Xenophobia
by Silent Scribe
Summary: Sesshomaru discovers he has one fear in the world and it has just arrived on the Western coast. Our tale comes to a close with one more "Feudal Fairytale." Ch 30 up.
1. Harbinger

**Harbinger**

Paved with millions of stars and laden with cosmic dust, the Celestial Bridge shimmered clearly in the autumn night sky. At the glittering pathway that arched over sandy dunes and slapping waves a huge pair of scarlet eyes appreciatively gleamed back.

On the edge of a cliff overlooking the shoreline, Sesshomaru stood proudly in his truest form. Foreclaws larger than boulders gripped the earth as he surveyed the coast where the great island was embraced by the ocean – the very limits of the Western Territories.

The daiyokai smiled inwardly.

_But not the limits of my power._

A wild wind tousled his ears and rumpled the great gray mane over his shoulder. Sesshomaru couldn't keep the lunar song at bay any more. The strength of freedom, revelry of abandon, were intoxicating; but no sooner had he parted his jowls than the scraping of wood on rock screeched for his attention. Jaws clamping shut, the dog-demon craned his neck to see what was happening.

Below, a strange ship bobbed in the open waters, but it wasn't the cause of the noise. Pulling up on the sand was a small boat, its cargo three or four passengers.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared. These humans were oddly attired with features misshapen from the norm – not even the countenance of Mainlanders. Their scent was pungent, riding high even on the salted air – strange spices mingled with citrus and the nose-burning stench of humans that hadn't bathed in weeks. The strange accents of their gibberish cinched it for Sesshomaru.

His ears flattened against the side of his head and his muzzle rippled with a growl.

_Foreigners_.

The moment he thought the word one of the outsiders turned to look his way. The man squinted almost as if he needed spectacles to see the towering white beast on the cliff just a ways off. Fingers touched a strange figurine dandling from his neck atop strange brown robes. The foreigner's lips worked slowly as if mumbling a prayer – or a curse. Then one of his companions called him over and the man's scrutiny was lost.

Sesshomaru's throat rumbled softly. He was not used to being ignored; but then, this was the wee hours of the morning. Humans often mistrusted their vision at this time.

_Just as well_, thought the daiyokai. It allowed more time to observe them. The gods knew there are probably more in that ship.

Loping back through the forests his hackles still didn't lower. Even the pounding of earth under Sesshomaru's paws was no solace. The night's magic was shattered with the crashing of a harbinger. It felt as if destruction had awashed on the shore. These people may crush the backbone of tradition.

Trying to outdistance the first rays of dawn, Sesshomaru did something completely out of his nature. For the first time in all his centuries, the Lord of the West hoped he was wrong.

.

_A/N: This was originally going to be a full story for a Halloween fic, but I've simply been too busy. So regular installments will have to do. I promise not to leave anyone hanging for too long._ ;)


	2. Domestic Affairs

_A/N: Apologies for the delay. On with the show._

**Domestic Affairs**

The warm embrace of the late morning sunlight was shrugged off as Sesshomaru strode up to a small village. Silk sleeves swishing softly at his sides lent a whisper to the daiyokai's barely contained irritation.

_Do they have to stare?_

It seemed no matter how many years passed that the villagers couldn't help but gawk at the stately demon that frequented their residence. They best knew of his visits through the ramblings of night-watches; he often slipped in with the shadows of twilight and under the cloak of darkness undetected. This was the only one of a handful of times they could recall him visiting in broad daylight – a marvelous and fearsome treat.

Sesshomaru scowled. At least staring was an improvement from the crowd flying in drew.

_A marginal improvement._

Part of him wanted to turn on the fools and snarl like he would in a feral state – that would get them to back off; for the other half, Sesshomaru wished he were invisible, if only to avoid their observance altogether. Perhaps if they acted like he didn't exist he wouldn't have to deal with murmurs and askance glares. What a nuisance to be noticed.

Quickening his pace now, Sesshomaru kept his eyes fixed on the finer house ahead. It wasn't necessarily a mansion, but with wooden floors and several rooms the construct could hardly be called a hut. Just on the outskirts of the village, right off the rice paddies, it wasn't far from the forest's sweet wilderness.

At the porch steps, Sesshomaru came to a dead halt and waited to be received. He wasn't disappointed; his mane hadn't even settled when something small and green clamped on to his leg.

"Oh, my lord! How I've waited for you!" Jaken gushed. "I knew you'd return soon – that'd you never forget your devoted vassal. Of course you wouldn't! I've always had the utmost faith in your lordship."

Sesshomaru refrained from rolling his eyes. It had only been a fortnight. His patience worn out, he skipped any intended pleasantries. "How is she?"

In his ecstasy, Jaken faltered a minute. "Huh? Oh, same as always, loafing about, complaining all the time" – a black boot raised menacingly – "Her health is excellent, m'lord. She carries well; it'll certainly be a son."

"Really?" chimed a gentle voice. "Lady Kagome's betting a girl."

The screen beside Sesshomaru slid open and a young woman of perhaps twenty stepped out. Some of the ice in daiyokai's eyes melted at the sight of Rin's swollen abdomen. Crossing his arms, he schooled his tone to its usual terseness. "Where's the father?"

Rin laughed openly. "You know he wouldn't miss the birth of his own child. Kohaku's just out fetching the doctor."

"Huh." With all the other capable women in the village, Sesshomaru knew the medic would be unnecessary, expensive, and at least a week too early. But it meant the taijiya was doing his job as a proper spouse. Sesshomaru privately indulged a moment's self-congratulation; he wouldn't have allowed Rin to marry anyone less worthy.

The demon's ghostly nod didn't go unnoticed, the dimples that marked either end of Rin's smile surfaced. Sesshomaru had protested – albeit silently – about the dangers of living with a slayer, how vindictive yokai trailed after and followed their kin's executioner home. To date there wasn't a scratch on Rin's person. Whether the taijiya's vocation could support a family was called into question – and the house stood in silent, smug testimony. Now some time later, when she remained at home in her expecting months the daiyokai considered Rin's loneliness, although Kohaku had been gone but one day in all – yesterday.

By all technical means Sesshomaru had relinquished his sole protection of Rin years ago. Of course, in the proud daiyokai's mind the operative word was "sole." That didn't mean she lost his vigilance entirely.

Raising her floral embroidered sleeve to her face, Rin smiled gratefully. Even grown neither Sesshomaru nor reluctant Jaken would abandon her – forever her little makeshift family.

Rin blinked back into the present as Jaken's voice hit a particularly screeching note. Recounting the past weeks' events, the imp gesticulated emphatically, highlighting his labors, strains and woes all done in the name of his master's presumed will. During this dramatic discourse, Sesshomaru leaned over the wooden railing, arms crossed at the wrists, his normally alert gaze glazed over and shapely pointed ears flexing up and down. Jaken could've been talking to the moon.

This wasn't Lord Sesshomaru's typical disinterest; the strange rigidity in his spine in a "relaxed" posture hinted at unsettling distraction. Concerned, Rin shuffled a step forward and Sesshomaru glanced up. She arched a brow at the rambling imp, then looked back at the dog-demon.

Waving a dismissive hand, Sesshomaru affected a placid expression. "Shouldn't you be wearing something warmer? It's a cool morning."

"Yes, of course." She smiled sweetly at the little yokai, who heaved a short huff at his interruption. "Say, Master Jaken, would you be so kind as to – ?"

"Rr, I've had enough of your putting on airs, young lady. Lord Sesshomaru's here now, and he's the only one who can give me any – "

"Jaken."

Tucking a rant under his breath, the imp bustled into the house. His scuttling steps faded presently.

"You are waiting for someone." Rin's observant nature had never dulled with time.

Sesshomaru turned back to the trees in the distance. "I could find him if I so desired."

"I know." She toyed idly with a loose strand on her kimono. "Dropping by the old well will get him to you sooner."

A sudden wind coughed up crimson leaves and heavy tramping announced Jaken's fuming arrival.

"Here, laggard," he squawked holding out an overcoat. Then he noticed someone was missing from their company. "Where'd m'lord go?" Within the same breath, Jaken launched into an indignant tirade about Rin's utter lack of consideration and poor manners; but, not unlike Sesshomaru himself, she ignored him easily.

_He was so preoccupied. _

Rin hoped Sesshomaru would find the assurance he was looking for.

--

Inuyasha wasn't sure which was more soporific, the heady scent of freshly crushed herbs or Kagome's dulcet humming. Either way, his eyes drooped and spine relaxed. These simple moments of calm were the ones the hanyo cherished most. Leaning half against the Bone Eater's Well and half in his wife's shoulder, Inuyasha dozed lightly.

Kagome smiled while trying not to break her tune. The days of vindictive questing and cold separation seemed a vague nightmare now. If only this tranquility could be an eternity.

"Eeep!" Kagome yelped, almost dropping her mortar and pestle when Inuyasha sprang to his feet. "What's wrong?"

His nose crackling, the half-demon whirled around. The years hadn't made him foolish enough to give his back this scent. "What do you want, Sesshomaru?"

The daiyokai didn't answer, standing perfectly still in the meadow's tall, swaying grass. Kagome blinked, wondering how she had missed his approach. Then shook her head. Reading those crossed eyebrows that wasn't the issue. "Is something the matter?" she inquired.

Sesshomaru's throat seemed to vibrate. When he replied he trained his gaze on Inuyasha alone. "Have you seen them?"

Inuyasha cocked his head. "Seen who?"

So even after a full day the intruders hadn't come this far in – yet. Sesshomaru's mouth formed a hard line. "Keep your ears perked, half-breed." A few paces later he paused. "And yours, priestess."

Then he was off, keen to his brother's befuddled curses, but not caring. If the newcomers meant harm, a danger-magnet like Inuyasha would be of the first to know – one of the first to act and protect.

_And if he can't do that, it will mean his life. _


	3. Assessment

**Assessment**

One week had passed since the foreigners' arrival. They spread like plague; mingling with others, their coarse tongue was contagious, and it wasn't long before the indigenous were infected with longing for the newly arrived gaudy attire. Of course, Sesshomaru had been right that the ship held more than the first four he had glimpsed. Three score and six in total, not inclusive of some forty galleon slaves. Then again, it wasn't as if he'd been counting.

More than once Sesshomaru had tried to convince himself they were petty humans as all others, their presence was inconsequential. But somehow watching their arrival first-hand had addled him. There seemed something inherently sinister about them. To begin with, they were such vulgar creatures; they ate without utensils, disclosed the basest emotion at once, and seemingly never bathed.

Still, the Western Lord could have overlooked it as the behavior like the barbarians of the North were it not for the unsettling merchandise these newcomers brought.

Clothes, food, drink, furniture were of the norm, but those small hand-canons weren't. The demon noticed how gingerly the humans hoisted them. Noticing their wicked smiles as they sighted down the barrels, Sesshomaru knew something deadly shot out from the rounded mouth. Yet the weapons – what did the mortals call them? Guns? – were nothing like the unpredictable Mainlanders' blast powder; no, they were worse. Having all the precision of an arrow combined with the destructive force of explosives. The honored sword of close combat would be rendered obsolete, a fairytale long forgotten.

Sesshomaru's lips pulled back to reveal hard, white fangs. Then his ear twitched.

"Y'know, they were kinda already here before you noticed," a young voice drawled in rough Japanese. "Why're y' hiding?"

Scowling, the daiyokai dropped from his leafy perch. Not a blade of grass had been disturbed from Sesshomaru's liquid descent, but Inuyasha's mane stood on end.

"So what, you see 'em show up for the first time ever and that's got you all hot and bothered?" The hanyo stiffened at his half-brother's seething yoki.

Sesshomaru maintained his unruffled façade. Barely. "I grow curious. It's time I knew these visitors."

"Everyone else calls them nanban." Keeping a swerved ear on the demon, Inuyasha turned to examine the strangers in the village beneath the hillock. "I wouldn't sweat it too much. They've adapted a bit t' our culture, too. Some of the travelers talk our language pretty good. Like that guy with the funny pendant."

Sesshomaru trained his own keen sight to where Inuyasha pointed. There was a fellow dressed more humbly than his companions; sure enough, over his brown robes hung the odd pendant. Sesshomaru felt like he'd seen it before; it was composed of two perpendicular, intersecting sticks. Other than that, the man went unadorned. The daiyokai scoffed – a short, relieved sound. The modest attire of monks was universal.

Then he remembered the issue at hand. "So, little brother, you have spoken to them." It was more like an accusation than a question.

"Is that a crime?" Inuyasha retorted. Sullenly, he stuffed his arms into his sleeves. "It was only a few times in passing. I try to keep my distance. They're kinda weird."

Sesshomaru's curiosity wasn't quenched. "How many at once?"

"Just one." The hanyo's ear flicked impatiently. "Why don't you go down there and talk to 'em yourself if you're so nosy?"

Sesshomaru looked at his sibling askance. He didn't have to say a word, "tarrying with humans is beneath me" was scrawled plainly across his face.

Inuyasha dug in his heels. "Ain't none of my concern."

"How friendly do you think they are?" Sesshomaru mused. "Look how far they've spread inland now. There was a time when all exchange was conducted at a port. How much will you gamble? The village's safety? Your woman's life?

"Go to hell and don't forget to – " Inuyasha was tramping down the hill.

Settling down on the grassy knoll, Sesshomaru leaned forward with chin on wrist to watch the spectacle. Better the half-breed be the guinea pig than he; Inuyasha's belligerent nature would draw a crowd for sure, but the fool had just enough crippling sympathy not to harm any of the humans. And besides, Sesshomaru had to admit, it would be entertaining to see his half-brother inspected like a beast for sale.

Legs crossed, Sesshomaru waited.

Sure enough, Inuyasha's raucous curses could be heard throughout the village. The western foreigners, the nanban, clustered around him in a flurry; though there were only three, Sesshomaru had to blink twice to make sure it wasn't seven. They prodded and poked, tugged and marveled. They seemed to be complimenting the hanyo on his flowing garments and antiquated blade. They even fingered the Beads of Subjugation. But for all their intense scrutiny, Inuyasha's most conspicuous feature was ignored; never once did the foreigners make remark to his canine ears. Oh, one of the bold ones pulled at a strand of hair, but he only seemed to be appraising its length. Sesshomaru's sharp ears never caught the word of color.

"Hey!" Inuyasha suddenly hollered.

Sesshomaru's attention redirected to the motion of the half-demon's waving arm."C'mon, hotshot! They ain't gonna bite! You too scared?"

The daiyokai's fur bristled in irritation. _He would so dare…?_

Immediately, all the men turned from their rambunctious captive to gaze where he pointed. Some were squinting and hopping over each other to get a view, but Sesshomaru slunk back into the shade of trees.

Then the holy man stepped forward. He wasn't wildly glancing helter-skelter like the others, instead his eyes lit up as he spotted the demon dead on.

_That's him! The stranger on beach who first noticed me._

In response to the man's stare, Sesshomaru felt his aura flare up. Fortunately, so did Inuyasha. Disentangling himself from his latest fan club, the hanyo started to make his way back to the hill. It appeared Sesshomaru had taken something the wrong way here.

"Damn," Inuyasha swore softly as he glimpsed a faint comet trailing over the treetops and out of sight.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn!" He knew his brother had a knack for getting rid of what he didn't like.

_I'm still alive._ Inuyasha grimaced to himself, snapping a twig underfoot. _But I don't think the foreigners are as hardy. _

_--_

_A/N: More to come soon._


	4. All at Once

**All at Once**

With her head bowed to the herbs in the shrine's garden, Kagome remained kneeling. Sesshomaru was always easier to deal with when he felt like was in control. That, and she couldn't bring herself to meet him eye-to-eye.

"Miko, how does their presence bode?" Terseness laced the daiyokai's question as he repeated himself.

"Why do you ask me, Lord Sesshomaru?" Kagome hedged, scrubbing harder the dirt on a squash.

"You're from the future," he returned as if that explained everything.

"Well, uh, it's been ten years since I was last in my era. I really can't remember much."

Sesshomaru's invisible hackles rose. This woman was withholding information. "Oh? Is memory as frail as your existence, mortal?"

Kagome tried not to fidget. "History was my weakest subject."

Grabbing her by the collar, Sesshomaru drew the priestess to her feet. "Do not lie to me," his soft voice was edged with menace. "Everyone knows you were worst in calculations and logistics."

Kagome gulped. A cold sweat trickled down her spine. Behind the amber eyes she could see flicker those of the heartless demon she first met when her travels with Inuyasha had just begun.

Controlling himself again, Sesshomaru set Kagome on her feet. He tried asking once more. "What happens to," he paused. "What happens to my kind?"

Still unnervingly calm, the priestess adjusted her clothes. "I don't know." Kagome's eyebrows drew together. "Yokai aren't mentioned in the history texts. They don't exist in the future world beyond murals and legends."

"I see." He couldn't protest. He could taste the truth in her words. "What calamity do the foreigners bring to our land?"

Kagome's smile was small. "Why do you assume the worst?"

Sesshomaru's mouth was a hard line.

"They mean well," she spoke carefully. "Just stay out of their way. Their dealings are with people. You shouldn't worry about human issues."

Waves of yoki washed over Kagome's skin, causing her own spiritual aura to stir. A jolt like touching a live wire. Maybe she shouldn't have said the last part.

"We can go," she searched for an appropriate term, "interview them tomorrow."

"Tonight," Sesshomaru said. It wasn't a suggestion. He had given the strangers the grace of one week and the situation hadn't improved. Another day would serve only a longer distribution of weapons.

Kagome trembled at the conviction in Sesshomaru's eyes. Something had him terrified and whatever it was he aimed to crush it. Not that she blamed him. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a surprised squeak. Inuyasha pounced on the dirt between them.

"What's going on?" He glared accusingly at Sesshomaru.

"I want an intelligent review," Sesshomaru spoke coolly, looking down his nose at the half-demon.

"Huh?"

"We're going this evening."

"Will y' give it up already?" Inuyasha barked coupled with a flippant toss of his mane. "Ain't nothing bad's gonna happen."

Sesshomaru caught the double negative. "Precisely."

Kagome squeezed Inuyasha's hand before anything got out of control. "It'll be fine. We're just going to put Lord Sesshomaru's mind at ease."

Inuyasha gave his wife a long stare. He had to trust her. If he didn't, how could Sesshomaru?

"All right, but I want to be there when – "

"Lady Kagome!" A tall figure raced toward her in the twilight. His voice was panicked.

"Kohaku, is something wrong?"

The young man panted a few times over before catching his breath and blurting, "She's started!"

Kagome smiled. Sesshomaru stiffened. Inuyasha snorted.

"Well, Sesshomaru," the hanyo said with more pleasure than was decent with the turn of events. "Looks like you'll have to wait 'til – Hey! Get back here!"

For the second time that day a light blue aura streaked overhead. Much to Sesshomaru's chagrin, he was much more visible at dusk. Several villagers turned to stare. They probably wouldn't shut up for weeks.

_Let them talk. _

The era of warring, humans, intruders, and now a baby. Even with supernatural powers, life just doesn't get any easier.


	5. Intermission

**Intermission**

Sesshomaru leaned against the post outside the birthing room, morning light reflecting where dew beaded on his armor. Since his arrival, the daiyokai hadn't moved a muscle. There was no cause for help or worry. His nose told him Rin had just finished delivering. He waited, listening to the murmurs of swaddling cloth and the squalling of new life.

Then the shoji screens burst open. A dark form Sesshomaru recognized as Kohaku bustled out. Only the demon's eyes slid after him, then flicked back to the entrance from which his "son-in-law" had come.

Sesshomaru blinked.

Son-in-law…another in-law to his list. His Rin – the little girl who found him so many years ago – had grown, married, and birthed. Half the lifetime of a human was but an eyeblink for Sesshomaru. In some respects it wasn't fair; all this transpiring so quickly. His family was swiftly expanding and he hadn't noticed.

_Like the foreign devils._

His lips twisted, as if contemplating something particularly unsavory. Sesshomaru returned to his original ruminations. The corners of his mouth twitched. What sort of poor, brave fool would subject himself to be the son-in-law of a daiyokai? Sesshomaru of all beings! Surely that soul would have to be maddened by his affections; a knave whose emotions held sway. And Sesshomaru had allowed Rin to marry such a person?

Suddenly a very disheveled Kohaku clamored down the hall, nearly tripping over his own feet with a fresh bucket of water in his hands. Blurring into motion, Sesshomaru deftly caught the basin as it sailed out of the taijiya's grasp and, with demonic speed, whipped it around to catch the water before even a drop hit the floor.

"Many thanks, Lord Sesshomaru," gasped Kohaku, wobbling as he regained his footing. Sesshomaru grabbed one of the slayer's arms and steadied it in his own grip before placing the basin back in his care.

Kohaku raised his head. Sesshomaru noticed the young man's eyes were shadowed underneath from staying up the night with Rin in labor. But they still brimmed with the brightness of devotion, love. There was nothing tired or worn about that. Sesshomaru's amber gaze held Kohaku's for a breath of heartbeats before he inclined his head. A smile bloomed across the taijiya's face. It was the same simple approval he'd been given a few years ago.

"I will do my best," he repeated for good measure.

Sesshomaru turned to go back to his post, separating himself again somewhat. Looking over his furred shoulder, he paused long enough to add, "Resume it."

"Indeed!" Kohaku executed a curt bow from the shoulders, then quickly pivoted back to the room. He paused before closing the screen. "Lord Sesshomaru, aren't you coming?"

"The child is yours, correct?"

Rin's husband chuckled nervously. "Well, I wouldn't doubt…"

"So _go_." Sesshomaru stopped speaking. Reaching to the side, he snapped the screen shut between him and Kohaku, sealing the foolish, endearing mortal in with his kith.

Certain now that no one could see him, the daiyokai indulged a smile. Kohaku's proud laughter chorused above the cacophony of "oohs" and "ahhs". Somewhere inside, Inuyasha's mate chimed, "See, I told you it would be a girl."

A little girl-child, then. Sesshomaru had entrusted Kohaku with his most precious treasure, now the demon-slayer had one all his own.

_He had better continue his best._


	6. Interlopers

_A/N: Anyone who's read "Sparring" knows where Rin picked up her moves_. ^-^ _Moving on..._

--

**Interlopers**

Kagome's relief had not been small after Rin birthed. Not only because the young woman had fared well and her child remained healthy but doubly so because it kept immediate family occupied. Including Sesshomaru.

For a full season the Western Lord didn't breathe a word of his previous concerns. Instead he seemed to go about demon hunting. Kagome was privy to this only because on his now less frequent visits, Sesshomaru appeared with either savage scar or missing armor. She knew it wasn't in his nature to go about showing wear from battle, so he must have been stopping by right in between. If his wounds were serious the daiyokai gave no inclination. He hauled in gifts, too – if that's what you call shipments of demon scales, bones, and hide. Although Sesshomaru had resumed his evening visits, Kagome knew it couldn't be anyone else – that last giant crustacean had been hard to conceal. Sango once made mention of how the slayers' kiln was now stuffed to gills with carcasses, enough to equip an army. Kagome flinched. Hopefully, Sesshomaru was only keeping himself occupied and his arbitrary curiosity had finally faded. When the dog-demon lost interest in something it was often abrupt and never trifled with again.

_But only after a few months?_ Kagome tried to be optimistic as ever, but doubt had wormed its way in. What was he planning?

Stranger still, Sesshomaru had all but decreed that Kohaku take time off his slaying travels to be there for his family. The sabbatical wasn't unwelcome. Kohaku relished his time with his wife and new daughter. His sister checked in regularly with a small gift or two; herbs, teas, soaps.

"You're spoiling me," Kohaku would facetiously protest.

"Not in the least," his brother-in-law countered. "You're a hard-working slayer, it's the least we could offer." Then Miroku would lean in closer to conspiratorially whisper, "So when's number two on the way?"

If something unnerved Lord Sesshomaru enough to make him anxious, what did this bode for the taijiya's family?

Then when spring was approaching, the parade of carcasses stopped completely. And the gaps in the dog-demon's visits shortened.

Cleaning out the last of a centipede's entrails, Kohaku tapped his scraper pensively. Why did Lord Sesshomaru's behavior worry him?

_The generosity._

Well, he couldn't tell Rin that. She'd think he was picking on him. Still, it stood to reason that Sesshomaru rarely was without ulterior motives. Kohaku could ask him directly, but…

_All right, fine, I am still a little scared of him._

He walked into the house, but didn't go much farther than the foray, his thoughts deterring all other movement. A light tap drew Kohaku back into himself. "Now?" Rin smiled sweetly, jostling a gurgling bundle on her hip.

The young man sighed. Another problem. "It's only been a few months, we shouldn't name her just yet."

"You mean it's already been several months, we should name her now."

"Rin," he stood, "you know we can't get attached before a year. What if…" His voice trailed.

"Disease hasn't plagued this area for decades now, Kaede once told me so." She gazed back at the bundle. "Akika…"

"Oh, don't do that to me," he groaned, but was helpless to resist encompassing his child as Rin passed her over. The infant grabbed for her father's hair and caught his nose. "Akika… 'scent of autumn.'" He repeated. "She was born late in the season, but I suppose she does smell of its sweetness."

"I know." Rin encouraging boosted Kohaku's arm for the little one's head. "Don't you agree, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Kohaku eyes widened, finally noticing the lining of fur the threshold had sprouted. For how long had he been there?

Sesshomaru sat like a sculpture out on the veranda, only his lose hair and fur rippling with the breeze. He'd arrived just in time to overhear the question. A great big "huh" was his replied. In utter honesty, the babe smelled of milky vomit, warm houses, and all those natural human odors. But who was he to burst anyone's bubble?

Somewhere inside, Jaken grumbled something rude. He'd scuttled into the house of his own accord, tidying up mats and clothes. The imp had taken a liking to the home, though he'd never confess it aloud. Jaken lost himself down another hall and was out of earshot for a while, consumed in his own quest to bring order to a home.

Rin was still feeling gitty. She didn't bother whispering her next comment to Kohaku, knowing perfectly well Sesshomaru would hear anyway. "If these two stick around here much longer, they're going to turn to stone and become family guardian spirits; then Lord Sesshomaru will have to accept our offerings of sweets and saké whether he likes it or not."

An audible snort came from the porch and Kohaku chuckled. This was like having company, but not. No real chatting, but a million words exchanged in between. Their silence protective. His laughter suddenly choked in his throat. Oh dear.

"What's wrong?" Rin's arms wrapped protectively around the unofficial Akika.

Kohaku swallowed. He recognized this behavior in other demons he'd encountered; common to the ones that had eight legs. They stopped pursuing prey altogether, burrowed deep in the undergrowth of the area they thought was most likely to be next – or perhaps where they felt defense most needed – and waited. Sesshomaru was anticipating that the namban would come to this village.

He dashed to get his uniform and weapons.

"Hey!" Rin barked after him. "Clue me in here!" She whirled to Sesshomaru. A leaf fluttered quietly where he had been.

Still tying down a shoulder pad, Kohaku raced back down the hall. Switching the infant to one Rin stepped in front of him. With a sharp thrust from the base of her palm, she hit her husband dead center in his chest. Kohaku's own momentum sent him careening backwards.

"I. Want. An. Answer. Now," Rin enunciated.

Kohaku gulped. He had never wanted to worry her, he had kept his suspicions private. Now his dear Rin's smoldering glare seared into him. "Forgive me." Kohaku reached to his side, preparing to toss the first thing that came to hand as a distraction. "Talk to him!" Then springing to his feet, he was out the door in a single bound.

Her good mood ruined, the lady of the house examined what was left for an answer.

A blunt pressure at the base of his skull halted Jaken instantly. "Where do you think you're going?" Rin added a little weight to her step for another ounce of menace; she'd had the perfect role model for over a decade to know how it was done. "Let's have a little chat."

--

"Put that away."

Kohaku obeyed, staying in step with Sesshomaru. The former boy was sturdy and broad-shouldered enough now to hoist the huge kusarigama behind himself now. True, brandishing it in public would have drawn much unwanted attention, but Kohaku noticed Sesshomaru still kept a hand on Bakusaiga's hilt.

The daiyokai caught him looking and, with some effort, dropped his arm to his side. "Get on my left." Kohaku nodded, dashing around promptly. It'd be stupid to get caught in Sesshomaru's cross-draw. They kept walking through the village. At this rate, Kohaku half expected a chopping block to be awaiting them at the end. He wasn't sure if Sesshomaru was still there until he the spoke again several paces later. "Bad diplomacy. You're making them nervous."

"They're already here?!" Kohaku gasped.

"No," Sesshomaru growled. "I meant quit fingering the chain. You'll make the villagers nervous."

_As if you don't;_ Kohaku nearly rolled his eyes.

"Intimidate the interlopers."

"Fine, but how do we know when – "

Sesshomaru came to a standstill, his nose wrinkled. "They're here."


	7. Amiable Ambassadors

**Amiable Ambassadors**

The foreign man wasn't as tall as Sesshomaru had expected. He had with him one native human. Kohaku addressed him.

"Greetings," he began, trying to seem friendly and relaxed. A veritable feat with the swirling, pulsing storm cloud beside him. Kohaku stepped forward, clearing both throat and head to continue. "Who are you and what draws you to our humble village?"

"I am called Yajiro," the homeland human touched an affirmative hand to himself. "This is my master, Lord Xavier."

Fingering the wooden cross around his neck, Xavier smiled congenially at the young man who addressed his apprentice. It was all he could do to keep from shooting a second nervous glance to the tall, exotic nobleman who flitted in and out of his peripheral vision.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared now that he had a name to put to that scent. It was he; that human who radiated like none of the other strangers. The daiyokai clenched his fists to his sides, it would surely be terrible diplomacy to tear a visitor to shreds simply on a hunch.

"…so you see, we mean to not trouble you," Yajiro concluded with a disarming smile.

Damn, what had the other mortal just said? Sesshomaru berated himself for being distracted by his personal anxieties.

Kohaku seemed to notice this and repeated the information for clarity's sake.

"So you would simply like to enter our village with the interest of promoting the general health of our people?" The taijiya deliberately made it a question.

"That is correct," answered Yajiro. "For that is the work and life of a missionary such as Master Xavier." He paused as considering what else he might disclose. "I will not lie by omission, however; merchants of both parties would like to come and sell what has been brought from the nearest port. You quiet village may grow more industrious in time. I do not think, though, that that would be for the benefit of the people."

"Well, I supposed we could allow – "

"Not now." Sesshomaru's icy words cut in quickly, momentarily freezing the rest of Kohaku's sentence.

Neither Yajiro nor Xavier seemed to hear the dog-demon, but waited patiently for the little village's ambassador to continue. Kohaku cleared his throat, "Ah, that is to say, your offer is one that requires consideration before we permit you entrance, sirs. If you work for the betterment of people, then please grant us some time in order to ruminate on the new change you offer."

The foreign monk looked curiously at his companion and Yajiro immediately translated in a rough and rapid tongue. It then occurred to Kohaku that Xavier may not have understood every word exchanged. Before he could glance to Sesshomaru, Yajiro returned his attention.

"We do not mean to impose haste, but we would like a definite answer. Will one week's time for deliberation suffice?"

Sesshomaru nodded, Kohaku verbalized, "Yes."

"Excellent! We shall return then!" Yajiro clapped his hands together, grinning at Xavier.

Matters settled, the men bowed to each other, Sesshomaru abstained – for he was in human company – and Xavier, still unaccustomed, gave an awkward obeisance from his shoulders.

"Oh, and please" – Yajiro dug into the traveler's bag he carried – "take this as a token of our gratitude for your audience."

"My thanks, sir." Kohaku nodded kindly as he accepted the gift. It was a blanket, darkly colorful with geometric patterns and fashioned from a material he had never felt.

"It is called wool," Yajiro supplied. "A wonderfully thick fabric for the cold early spring nights we're having. Made in my master's homeland of Portugal."

Xavier smiled proudly. He understood the last word.

Sesshomaru didn't like the smile, or anyone else's right now, but matters were progressing smoothly.

"Until next time then," Kohaku beamed. Sesshomaru thought the boy could have been a politician.

The last farewells exchanged, Yajiro and his mentor were off, presently fading over the next hill.

"Coming, my lord?" Kohaku called gently over his shoulder. When the stately dog-demon didn't budge, he set off back home.

Sesshomaru glared at the horizon a little longer. If he never saw _them_ or their kind again it would be too soon. For now, though, he had until next week.

--

_A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated "Xenophobia", but when I looked at the last time I uploaded anything here my eyes bugged out of my skull. My apologies to all the readers kept in limbo (it's been hectic since January) and I will get back into a routine starting today (as you can see I've more or less set a date in this chapter). An appreciative nod to those who've sent me notes asking, "So when are you going to do anything new?" Guys, I'm on it._ ;)


	8. Arms Race

**Arms Race**

Jaken was a bruised, groveling mess when he was reunited with his master's boots. Sesshomaru glanced over at Rin who was once again chatting affably with her husband and admiring the new blanket he brought. The daiyokai stepped over his twitching retainer; no doubt Rin had been well informed up to the latest details.

That afternoon Sesshomaru left in the closest sense of peace he'd experienced all morning. He had some time. The succeeding days passed with little happening and in all his centuries Sesshomaru never wished for anything more routine. Wisely, however, he kept his expectations low. When the fourth day of the week rolled in, he was not disappointed.

Rin sniffled, but despite watery, red eyes she didn't miss Sesshomaru's telltale signals. Even one who could school his features into the perfect blasé mask could not hide the displeasure that twisted the mouth and narrowed eyes. Whether it was demonslayer instinct or just the years around Sesshomaru, Rin mentally applauded her brave Kohaku for addressing the seething daiyokai with calm directness.

The young woman sneezed again. Why wouldn't this irritating cold leave her? She saw Sesshomaru arch a brow, but he said nothing. The spring weather and all its airborne hazes could play havoc on a mortal's senses, he knew. Rin cuddled herself and Akika in the blanket a little deeper.

Sesshomaru focused again on the source of his discontent. The taijiya said he had confiscated it from one of the villagers who claimed to have bought it just yesterday. Its metal muzzle gleamed eerily in the afternoon sun.

"They were not to trade with us until given further notice." Sesshomaru's words were clipped, but he knew there was no stopping humans in such a matter. And who was he to meddle in mortal affairs?

Rin looked up into amber eyes. She noticed Sesshomaru shift his weight uneasily.

"What are you going to do with it?" Rin asked. "You can't return it to the owner."

Kohaku nodded. "I lectured him enough. He's a young fellow, doesn't quite know the consequences of this beyond providing a quick meal for his family. I offered to assist him in such matters. If it endangers the village for him to starve, then it behooves the village that he eats. I've mentioned the incident to no one, including Inuyasha." He glanced sidelong at the daiyokai who seemed engrossed with what the birds outside had to say. "I suppose I'll destroy it." Slinging the rifle over one shoulder by its leather strap, he made to exit.

"Save it." Sesshomaru's sudden input stunned Kohaku. "Bring it to the next meeting. They should not think it is acceptable to go against an agreement."

"I don't believe the trade was made with Yajiro's or Xavier's knowle—"

The dog-demon's gaze flashed over furred shoulder. He didn't care. "They are responsible either way."

"Lord Sesshomaru, you don't intend to…? They didn't do…"

Sesshomaru stared blankly back.

Rin coughed into her fist, before quickly interpreting. "He won't kill them, Kohaku. Lord Sesshomaru is just very…upset."

Upset, Kohaku thought, was too quaint a word for the gagging aura rolling off in searing waves from the Western Lord. He wasn't fool enough to argue, though, not if Sesshomaru had something less violent in mind.

"All right, I'll store the weapon. We have only two more days until they are expected back, anyway."

Sesshomaru gave the ghostliest of nods before pivoting to go. Halfway out the threshold, he stopped. "Kohaku?"

"Sir?"

"Come. Bring the rifle."

Sparing a glance at his shrugging wife, the demonslayer hurried along. His spine tingled. Why did he get the feeling Sesshomaru was going to perform a test?


	9. Armed Assurance

**Armed Assurance**

Kohaku had seen muskets before; in his years as a freelance slayer, he'd been called in a few times when the new technology didn't work. His pay was highest on those days. No expense was spared to exterminate a demon a few ranks below Sesshomaru.

Now, fingers tracing the cold metal of an original firearm from the Far West, Kohaku knew he should have had no doubt that history's strongest demon would survive. He should.

When they arrived in a clearing, Sesshomaru stopped moving altogether.

"Here."

"Sir?"

"Prepare the weapon."

Without a word of protest, Kohaku obeyed. The gun was preloaded, ready to fire. He glanced up to se that Sesshomaru was already several meters away.

The taijiya sighed, he had a good idea of what was coming. Still, he asked softly, knowing the daiyokai's perked ears would catch every word, "Lord Sesshomaru, have you not encountered rifle fire before?"

The Western Lord nodded gracefully and curtly added, "Though it has been some time since."

Kohaku tilted his head. Sesshomaru wanted to test for any advances made in the years past -- it sounded logical.

"Fire it," he commanded.

Kohaku started to aim at the sky, but he could feel Sesshomaru's gaze sear into him. He knew what he meant. Kohaku stiffened. He had in his hands a gun, a weapon, a "killing thing", and demon or not, one did not shoot at those who were family in all but name.

"Kohaku." It was an order.

What if something did go wrong? Sesshomaru's eyes had lingered on the arm – did he know something more? Did it matter? Sesshomaru was yokai, daiyokai at that, surely he would live, but…Kohaku stared dumbly at the rifle, then back at the dog-demon. "Lord Sesshomaru…"

"Fire!" The light whip cracked.

Like a spurred stallion, Kohaku took aim and squeezed the trigger.

He exhaled relief when he saw Sesshomaru's banded energy snake out and thrash the shot away where it zipped harmlessly in the other direction. There. Sesshomaru had it out of his system now. The dog-demon had proven to himself he was stronger and there wouldn't be any –

"Reload."

Kohaku knew better than to groan. Grasping the rifle's accompanying pick, he began to pack in the gunpowder for a second round. He was done in less than a minute.

"Fire."

Kohaku obeyed.

This time Sesshomaru caught the bullet, his fingers plucked it out of the air inches from his nose. He didn't throw it away, rather he studied the compressed lump of lead, tossing it back and forth between his palms. How could something as small as this ever pierce his touch demonic hide?

Pah! Never. He was unquestionably possessed the strength and speed to defend one small village. Even the hanyo had little to fear.

Kohaku wasn't sure if Sesshomaru had forgotten him, but he didn't like the odd smile curling on the dog-demon's lips.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Dreamy, golden eyes blinked back into the present. "Hn? Oh, yes, ah, put that away for safe keeping for the next two days."

Kohaku's topknot bobbed lightly, but Sesshomaru didn't see. His back was already turned. Experiment successful.

The daiyokai sighed. They would endure this. There was nothing the new foreigners had brought with them that he, Sesshomaru, couldn't handle. That monk – Xavier – he didn't speak their tongue, yet he seemed to hold influence. Perhaps he could dissuade them to search elsewhere. Perhaps a civil conversation would be all necessary.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. Mustn't place too much faith in these humans.

But he would find a solution, one way or another.

Hard talons seized and snapped a twig.

"Bang."


	10. Fleeting Caprice

**Fleeting Caprice**

Sesshomaru stared listlessly across a flower filled meadow. The occasional butterfly alighted on a blossom before dancing back up to the endless blue sky. The dog-demon blinked freely, his bland expression would not betray how starkly this tranquil scenery contrasted with his whirring mind. He had been running on the tight leash of anxiety these past few months and now it felt as if the strangling cord had slackened and he was simply too exhausted to worry it anymore. His answers were in hand, what more now? The question echoed over and over in his head.

It was the late afternoon of the sixth day, perhaps he should return and spend the night as the "guardian spirit".

The black boots didn't budge.

Sesshomaru indulged a gusty sigh. He couldn't loiter around Rin and Kohaku's home forever. They had their own lives and, as agitated as he was of tomorrow's meeting, he would would have to learn to step away – if only little by little.

With an inward snarl, the daiyokai's divided self retorted that these were not appropriate times to "step back". If anything, he was needed more than ever.

_That's what family does, they protect each other. _

Sesshomaru snapped his eyes open, never realizing he'd closed them. Family? Protect? From whence came such ridiculous ideas? His family had never been terribly close-knit, especially these past two hundred years, and he still had no one to protect. His eyes burned around the edges. Surely he was spending far too much time with those short-lives. He'd meddled in a life that wasn't his for over ten years. That was time enough for a fleeting caprice. Sesshomaru never took upon himself anything that bound him. This was not the time to cultivate bad habits.

Claws wrapping around Bakusaiga's hilt, his resolve was crystallized; he would not go to the village tonight, he would turn away the intruders and then, finally, leave well enough alone.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru!"

The dog-demon had heard the frantic whisper of feet through grass long before the shrill voice cried out. He didn't bother turning around to address it.

"What news, Jaken?"

"Horrible! M'lord, it's Rin and her child – both have fallen ill with a sickness none recognize." The imp paused for breath only have the wind kicked out of him.

"What _took_ you?"

Jaken silently gave thanks to know that his master's words were not a death threat. He didn't know the fury Sesshomaru raged upon himself as hot and blazing as the sphere of energy that engulfed the esteemed demon on his race home.


	11. Salvaging the Situation

**Salvaging the Situation**

How could he? He betrayed his own before they even got started. Sesshomaru clenched his fists until claws bit into skin, leaving little, bloody crescent moons.

It was all the daiyokai could do to keep from pacing back and forth. The expansive little room felt cramped with its handful of other occupants. The priestess, Inuyasha's wench, knelt beside Rin, replacing damped cloths over her forehead when necessary. Her young friend had slipped into a fevered sleep.

Not far, Kohaku rocked his wailing infant in his arms. Her father's cooing voice was muffled by his taijiya's mask. There was something different in his mannerism; the brown eyes that were so often affected by the slightest passion now peered out with a general, clinical gaze. Sesshomaru was no stranger to that look. If Kohaku were sitting alone this instant, he would surely go mad.

The dog-demon debated the urge to leave Rin's side. Akika was fresh, she could was within Tenseiga's call. Sesshomaru's silver bangs shook, repulsed by the thought. He would not fail a new life so soon.

Kohaku's sister and the monk were not present. Reasonable; they could not risk their expanding family and, with so many children, the malady would spread like wildfire throughout the village in no time. The youngest, working member of the quarantined party was the fox kit, doing his part to fetch water and any other odd jobs with Jaken in tow. The pair doubled as lookouts with Inuyasha at the entrance's threshold. No one exchanged a word.

Asking if his companions would survive seemed like tempting the fates. Sesshomaru opted not to break the silence.

"We're very lucky to catch it early," Kagome said suddenly, somehow managing to make her tone light and almost cheerful. "I've got an idea of what it is now, but we're going to need some medicines that don't grow on this side of Musashi's domain." Although four sets of eyes rested on her, the priestess was proud she hadn't swayed under Sesshomaru's weighted gaze. Before any commentary could be made, Kagome quickly suggested, "Inuyasha, why don't you take Kilala and retrieve them?"

His own stamina wearing thin, Inuyasha tugged idly on an ear, giving little thought to his next words. "Sure, but why me?"

"Don't question her, half-breed!" Sesshomaru snapped.

Immediately taking offense, Inuyasha retorted, "Hey, don't take your frustrations out on me, bastard! It's your fault we're mixed up in this!"

"Mine, is it?" The snarl was partially garbled by elongating fangs.

"Lord Sesshomaru, please calm down," Kohaku implored.

"It's not my fault!"

"Oh yeah?" Inuyasha wasn't letting this one go, he'd seen Kagome far too anxious these past nights. "If it ain't yours than who's been causing this whole panic attack like some headless chicken? Bet'cha if you weren't so suspicious, the namban wouldn't feel so obliged to pass along their infected peace-offerings."

"I did nothing."

"Didn't have to."

Glowing talons cracked.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Kohaku tried again.

"Stay out of this, boy." Looming over Rin's still form, Sesshomaru whirled on the taijiya, his eyes gone crimson. "I have not fallen short in my duty to protect my family."

Kohaku didn't flinch. He turned without sudden motions and stared respectfully at the space near Sesshomaru's ear, nearly at eyelevel. The dog-demon's jaw tightened at the quiet strength he saw in those eyes.

"No one has spoken of failure, Lord Sesshomaru." His tones were even and rational. "No one except yourself."

The daiyokai's claws twitched…and he lowered his gaze, carefully recalling his yoki. Kagome decided this wouldn't be an appropriate time to note that Rin's fever had risen and tried to surreptiously as possible slip a new, damp cloth over her brow. Sesshomaru noticed anyway. With measured backwards steps, he retreated until the wall pressed close from behind. His eyes still adhered to the floor, he did not address Kohaku. It was akin to the most humble apology Sesshomaru would ever offer.

Akika's squalling died down to whimpers.

Kagome placed a cool hand to Rin's cheek. "Be quick, Inuyasha. Try to return before daybreak." Her glance held reassurance, but even after mounting Kilala the hanyo didn't forget how Kagome never said "don't worry". He would be quick.

And not because Sesshomaru hoped so.


	12. Change of Plans

_A/N: A nice longer chapter for my readers' patience. Thanks, all! _

**Change of Plans**

Kohaku stifled a yawn and wiped the grainy residue from his eyes.

"You may return home."

The drooping topknot straightened at Sesshomaru's barely audible offer. "I am fine." He smiled brightly, but somehow got the impression Sesshomaru didn't believe him. Kohaku shrugged and kept walking. What did it matter? Inuyasha returned within the night. Rin's labored breathing was steady by sunup. Kohaku knew he must have looked like some inebriated beggar's vomit, but he felt a hundred times better. Or at least he had until Sesshomaru reminded him of today's duties. It was the reason they once again traveled to the outskirts of town.

With each measured step, Sesshomaru observed his surroundings anew. He saw the back-bent farmer yoking his oxen for the day, mothers hustling their slow-eyed children to tend the rice paddies, and hens clucking in roosts at their rude awakenings. It was laborious, routine, but no one in this village looked underfed or cut up with discontent. They were all fettered in one unity. He did not envision it surviving the drastic changes of the newly arrived namban.

A good distance away from the last shack in the village, Sesshomaru stopped. Kohaku glanced over. The daiyokai tilted his head, lips pursing. Several seconds later, Kohaku heard what the dog-demon must have picked up minutes ago.

_Tah-rump, tah-rump, tah-rump._

The canter of a score of hoofbeats thundered closer. Kohaku felt his own heart pounding in time.

"Halt!" At least his voice came out steady.

At the crack of a light whip, the first horse reared back, stalling the rest of the riders.

"What's this?" a gruff call resounded. He was a foreigner. And he was not Xavier. He swiveled on his horse to get a better look of his roadblock. "Are you this little dump's headman?" he demanded, foul breath creeping out.

"I am the speaker of this village, yes." Kohaku instantly wished he'd brought Kilala, but who could have anticipated this? "We were not expecting such a show as yours. Where are Lord Xavier and Lord Yajiro?"

The first man astride his still gitty mount, seemed to be the one in charge as everyone else – footsoldiers and horsemen alike – came to a standstill behind him. He smiled when they did as he. Both his own European kin and these simpleton natives in his troop were under his sway. Perfect.

Sesshomaru's long lashes fluttered in disinterest. An attention whore, the rider also appeared to be the sort who would sooner start a fight and ask questions later. Anything for a moment's control.

"Yajiro? Xavier? _My_ name is Antonio, boy. I am a captain of the fourth division and I have no entanglement with whatever arrangement you have with this Xavier. My men and I are here to do business within your vicinity. By force if necessary. We have been deterred from this quick route for a while, but I grow impatient. Are they your orders that keep me from advancing?" He wasn't going to wait for a reply. He skipped the rifle at his side to slide a saber from its sheath.

"Enough!" A bay mare rushed the space between Kohaku and Antonio, its rider knocking the sword aside in a rough, jousting motion. The horse spun around again.

"Captain Antonio, what in God's name _do_ you?" In the shadow of his monk's hood, Francis Xavier's eyes smoldered with intensity.

Even if he hadn't spotted Yajiro a short ways off, Sesshomaru recognized the missionary's pungent scent immediately. Keeping an eye on a flabbergasted Kohaku and the other stunned soldiers and horsemen, the dog-demon listened with vague interest to the conversation. Over the months he picked up phrases and words quickly, though his own command of the language wasn't perfect, he could listen.

There was a battering of "dishonor" and "demerits", but when Xavier made a point it pricked. Afire with passion, he now addressed the crowd. "Are _none_ of you concerned with the welfare of your immortal _souls?_"

Many more than just Antonio shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. Numbers were doubled when Yajiro translated.

Golden eyes scrutinized the exchange between the two men. Obviously this monk had a sort of spiritual hold over the officer. He glanced at Kohaku who nodded slightly in return.

The others silenced for the moment, Xavier slid off his mare and walked to meet Kohaku. "I am sorry for…" He gestured in the direction of his riding party, then remembered the single palmed bow to demonstrate his apology.

"Yajiro," he called, switching to Portuguese. "If you would please?"

A few garbled words later and Yajiro addressed Kohaku. "My master apologizes for the fanfare." He jerked his head to the grumbling horsemen and footsoldiers behind.

"Why are they here?" Kohaku almost regretted that his voice sounded so harsh, but Rin's fevered face wouldn't leave his mind. "You make a hostile display."

Xavier leaned in. The young man appeared terribly upset, his distraught barely masked by anger. "What did he say? What happened? Come now, Yajiro."

Fumbling for idioms and vocabulary, Yajiro spun between the two dialogues, speaking and listening and integrating as much information as fast as he could. No, they're not hostile. I'm sorry to hear your wife is sick. No harm was intended. Your village so happens to be situated in the middle. We could make it flourish. I swear.

But silence reigned supreme when the rifle was thrown into plain sight.

"Please explain what this is doing here _days_ before your appointed meeting," Kohaku growled. "Your word is worthless in such matters!" He waved the rifle high, preparing to smash it, when a sudden breath escaped the crowd.

Sesshomaru turned in the direction he heard the gasp; it came from one of the foot soldiers. He strode to the section, Kohaku followed close. The taijiya spotted the wide-eyed man first. He was of their own. It saved any misinterpretation and lost all pity for misunderstanding.

"_You_," he snarled, ire past its boiling point. "Did _you_ bring this here?"

"Out of my way." Sesshomaru was not accustomed to _pushing_ through throngs of humans. What was wrong with them? Even Antonio didn't seem to register his presence.

_Nothing for it._

Moments later, he was where Kohaku stood. The magenta stripes stretched to trace the corners of the dog-demon's fanged mouth. His patience was impressive, but it was not boundless. How cathartic it would be to rip one, just one, of these idiots limb from limb. To feel him writhe beneath his claws as his own pack had been suffering in uncertainty. Sesshomaru reached for him and the man screamed at the creature from his childhood's nightmares.

_"Yokai!"_

Antonio blinked. "What? What are you imbeciles staring at?" Where had that silver-haired man just come from?

Suddenly, brown eyes wide, Yajiro hastened a backpedal, ending when he was standing on the toes of his master. Xavier gently pushed his assistant aside, trying to shoulder his way to the front of the crowd that cleared a circle. "Yajiro, what's…Him!"

His grip still secured, Sesshomaru looked up from his prey. He frowned. Why did it seem like his presence had just been noticed? And why was that odd monk approaching him? Was his fear so one-dimensional? Or was he so suicidal?

Xavier couldn't believe it. The strange young fellow who'd drifted in and out of his peripheral vision these past months now stood right before him! Clear as the daylight itself. God in heaven, he wasn't hallucinating! The man was richly attired, he was exotic – he had pointed ears and vivid face paint for Saint Peter's sake! He may as well have been something out of a fairytale!

The stranger gazed directly into Sesshomaru's eyes and the Western Lord's indignation was complete.

"How dare – ?" Before he could speak further, the wretch did something that sealed his fate altogether. Reaching out a hand he touched Sesshomaru's armor, running a finger along the edge as if to ascertain its existence.

Without seeming to have moved, Sesshomaru backhanded the offender into the dirt. Friend or foe, the response was automatic and Sesshomaru would have none of any disrespect. Below, the missionary blinked, straightening his jaw.

"Father Xavier!" A soldier from the crowd cried, rushing to the monk's aid.

Antonio shook off his shock and seized the moment. He aimed his saber at Sesshomaru. "Kill the heretic!"

At their commander's voice, the rest of the men sprang to life. The were given orders and the source of their troubles was in plain sight. An odd looking man, to say the least. A few glances strayed to the more normal-looking accomplice.

_They grow distracted. _

Cursing under his breath, Sesshomaru lashed out a ribbon of yoki, spinning the muzzle of Antonio's gun in his direction.

Feeling the firearm buck suddenly in his arms, Antonio fixed his eyes on the foolhardy troublemaker. This was the little snot that stood between him and progress. He fired above the misgreant's head. "There! There! After him! He's getting away, you idiots!" Digging his spurs into his stallion, Antonio collected his men and led the charge. "Move! What do you think he is? A demon? Go!"

Some of the men – the wiser ones – had broken ranks and fled; but those who were desperate and young enough to believe that the newcomers offered true wealth and power hopped to it. Those who had sailed for months and would not have their earnings denied followed close. Together they heeded one commander and set their sights on one target: Sesshomaru.

The daiyokai kept an easy pace so they could follow him into the dense brush of the forest, away from Kohaku, Rin, and every other poor, well-intentioned fool. With natural demonic instinct, Sesshomaru flowed through the forest. His senses reading yards ahead where every root, dip, and tree would be. Ducking under a branch, he listened to make sure he hadn't lost anyone.

A shout, a rustle, more pounding hooves – they were gaining.

They were flanking closer and hot on his heals. Sesshomaru smirked. A little further and he would be surrounded.

They wouldn't escape him now.


	13. Disbelief

**Disbelief**

Sesshomaru loped a ways more until he slowed before an ancient oak. Placing his back to it, he raised his claws and waited. It took a minute or two longer than the daiyokai expected for them to encircle him. Humans were such a bore.

"There!" The call echoed through the undergrowth. Antonio.

_The loudest duck is always the first to be snared._

With a tug of reins and a whicker from his horse, the captain stopped dead center before his target. He wanted make sure the effeminate twerp would live these last moments in awe and horror at his executioner.

Sesshomaru stared back blandly. It'd be pleasant to see this wretch squirm in awe and horror. Maybe he should save him for last.

"What are you smiling about, snot?" Perhaps fear had rendered the lad insane. Antonio had seen it happen to women and cowardly men, apparently madness crept upon "warlords" raised in the lap of luxury, too.

No matter. He took aim and fired a warning shot over Sesshomaru's head only to be enraged when the idiot didn't even flinch.

"Captain!"

A handful of foot soldiers puffing for breath stumbled to the frontlines. They froze when Sesshomaru glanced their way. This "man", or whatever entity he was, had eyes that glowed the hues of orange fire and flickered with a chill that licked at the hairs on their necks. There was a collective shudder.

Satisfied with the reaction, Sesshomaru felt indulgent and allowed them time to spout a few final words.

The namban quaked behind their guns. The scattered islanders in their group whispered that mystifying word again, the one that seemed to hold centuries of rooted terror and dread: _yokai_.

"C-Captain Antonio?"

"What?"

"Yokai…" someone whimpered.

"What the hell is that? You mean some fairytale demon?" He snorted. "I swear, the next fool who so much as mentions –"

The word was murmured again. Antonio singled out the speaker.

"You get to shoot first."

A one-time bandit, the soldier lurched in his stance. Fate had dealt him a favorable hand until now. He did not want to be the first fool to take on a _dai_yokai of all monsters.

Antonio adjusted his aim and focused on the possible deserter. Amber eyes tracked the motion.

Hands trembling at the trigger, his new weapon and possible salvation, the former bandit sighted down the barrel…and fired.

Sesshomaru's reaction was lightening fast, sparing the foot soldier all but the shock with one resounding whiplash. In a heap of armored plates, the gritty mortal collapsed among his fellow infantrymen. It was if Sesshomaru had stunned them all in one sweeping stroke.

Antonio's brow knit. Something had deflected that bullet and, he was not sure how, but the shot returned with just the same impact.

"Demon!" shrieked one of the captain's own as he dropped his gun and bolted.

"You damn idiots!" cried Antonio in his rough and strange tongue. "Don't stand in a circle and shoot at each other! Kill the bastard!"

"No, he's a demon! He can't be – "

The man's voice died in a deafening crack of gunfire. Sesshomaru was reminded of his revulsion for humans as Antonio calmly reloaded and redressed his company.

"Superstitious imbeciles!" he bellowed. "Enough fairytales! That rouge's no more a demon than I!"

Sesshomaru watched the foreigner pump his rifle. The instant he fired, the dog-demon's light whip lashed out to meet the shot. A sudden crumbling of armor announced Sesshomaru's failure.

Antonio's eyes narrowed while ocher couldn't conceal their own disbelief. A troop of heads swung back and forth between the two.

Now there was the expression he'd wanted to see. Antonio reset his rifle.

"Nothing more than human."

Round two exploded.


	14. Semantics

**Semantics**

"Yajiro," Xavier groaned, shutting his eyes against the black streamers that swam across his vision. The afternoon sun beat on his eyelids. He had kept a dogged grip on consciousness and now almost resented it. Then again, it may have been a blessing. There were more important circumstances at hand. "Yajiro, who _was_ that man?"

The apprentice monk absentmindedly reached for his crucifix. "From what faith has taught me, a demon, master."

"Demon…?" Xavier slowly sat up, his head still feeling as if a blacksmith had made a day's work of him. "Demon." He tasted the word and for some reason it didn't sit right.

"Excuse me."

"What do you want?" Yajiro snapped at Kohaku, reverting to his mother tongue. "It was you who brought that yokai here wasn't it?" He wrapped an arm defensively around his bewildered principal. "Did you sell him your soul? Are you insane?"

"Yajiro!" Xavier raised a hand to silence him. "I can't think with all your angry gibberish, nor can I hear the young man speak."

Kohaku held the eyes that met his, they were dark as leather and soft as the finest. How he wanted to believe them. He focused on Yajiro.

"Lord Sesshomaru, was just…" Gods, how did one explain it all? He felt his gaze slide back to Xavier's.

"That nobleman…was a friend?" Xavier hoped he sounded understandable.

Kohaku vigorously nodded. "Yes."

"He feels…" Xavier looked helplessly at his guide. "How do you say 'threatened'?"

Yajiro translated.

"Yes, Mister Xavier, he does. He attributes it to your men." To spare their mediator the breath, Kohaku pointed toward the woods.

The Portuguese monk's mouth opened to protest, then quickly closed. The fierce look of his stalwart audience drew him up to full responsibility. He would not balk. "My good Kohaku, what is your companion?"

"I already told you," Yajiro interrupted. "That thing's a demon."

"Yajiro!" Xavier's voice adopted the undercurrent he used for Antonio. "Tell him exactly what I asked."

With a hefty sigh, Xavier's assistant obeyed.

A moment later, Kohaku blinked – the universal "huh?"

"Did you not tell him?"

Yajiro turned around. "I did and he's wondering what you mean, master." Kohaku added to his inquiry. "He asks if there are no yokai – demons – in your homeland."

Stroking his chin now, Xavier peered at Kohaku. "What is your meaning for _yokai_?"

The taijiya erupted in a deluge of description that poured out. Yokai were many, fierce and feared, they possessed the power to wipe out clans and towns. Then thoughts of Shippo and Kilala flitted across Kohaku's mind. Yokai were also allies and friends. They could be helpful, giving, mischievous, and whimsical. They could also be indifferent. They existed and populated not just realms of shadow but also imagination. Yokai were the very forces of nature.

"Is that the truth, Yajiro?"

Finally interpreting the last sentence, Yajiro huffed. "Yes, Master Xavier. On this I do not lie."

"Then that definition does not coincide with the label you placed upon our yokai visitor."

"It is close enough!"

"A half-truth is only a complete lie."

Kohaku watched the pair quibble for a moment, they didn't seem to be discussing anything life-threatening. "Mister Yajiro," he called.

Both men stopped speaking.

"I've a question for you strictly." He paused to make sure he had Yajiro's full attention. "Tell me, honestly, did you see – not just notice, but actually see Lord Sesshomaru when we were standing here?"

Arms folded within his sleeves, the apprentice closed his eyes and thought. Eventually, he sighed. "I don't know I wasn't paying attention…No, I don't believe I did. I knew he was there when he pushed through the throng of footmen and grabbed that one poor fool. As soon as he was named I saw your 'Sesshomaru' clearly."

Kohaku's brow furrowed. "Please ask Master Xavier my question."

Xavier, who had staggered to his feet, now squinted at his assistant. His reply was little different. Yajiro looked at Kohaku. "What are you trying to deduce?"

"Why did it seem like I was the only one aware of Sesshomaru's presence?" The demonslayer's comment was more rhetorical, hand touched to whiskered chin. "Yajiro, have you ever seen yokai before?"

"Yes, of course. That's how I knew what I was looking upon!" he huffed indignantly.

"Have you seen them recently?"

Yajiro shifted from one foot to the next uneasily. "Well, such creatures are few and far between, especially of recent."

"Truly?" Kohaku quirked a brow. "I hunt the hostile ones for a living and either I or my earnings will tell you there is no shortage." His eyes flicked to the wooden cross resting on his company's garbs. "Yajiro, when did you become a convert?"

"Several months ago, nearly a year, it was shortly after I met Master Xavier." His mouth twisted. "Boy, what does my faith have to do with – ?"

"And," Kohaku persisted, "you stopped seeing yokai around the same time, correct? Is that because your new religion does not practice a belief in yokai, nature spirits, or perhaps demons?"

"I saw that white-haired beast, didn't I?"

Xavier tilted his head. Something young Kohaku was saying had caused his apprentice to become quite flustered.

"You only noticed him after someone had blurted it out. After you witnessed and felt a panic that pierced into you did you recognize the truth in those tales of your youth. It was an ignition of your own doubt."

"Prep-preposterous!" Yajiro took a step back. Someone among them was mad and it was not him. No matter how real that two-tailed kitten at his foot seemed.

Kohaku smiled at Kilala. She always had impeccable timing. He reached for her, but she suddenly leapt into Xavier's arms first.

"Oh! Oh my! What a darling little feline!" he cooed. Kilala purred happily under the soft strokes. "What's her name?"

Kohaku understood the question enough without Yajiro's help. Xavier was an openhearted person, he was gentle with all creatures even if his curiosity got the better of him. He saw how eagerly Kilala batted her large brown eyes and raised her single bushy tail. "Her name is Kila –" Kohaku stopped short and blanched. Brown eyes? Why weren't Kilala's their usual pink? And where had gone her other tail?

"Kira or Kila?" Xavier asked, still petting what he thought to be a perfectly healthy animal. He scooped her up. Maybe Kohaku had noticed something wrong with her. He looked at Yajiro. "Was it something I said?"

Yajiro looked smugly at the normal cat, nothing magical or special about it. "No, Master Xavier. Just something he thought." For the society into which he'd assimilated, the one that progressively encroached upon Kohaku's, yokai did not exist. Their was no need for them if they would fade from memory. He reached for Kilala. "Such a fine kitty!"


	15. Round Two

**Round Two**

The first shot had stunned him, but the second – though it happened all in the space of a lightening bolt – the second, Sesshomaru viewed it in the span of a capsulated eternity. The smoking gust of the fired shot, the sheen of the bullet, and Antonio's gap-toothed grin; Sesshomaru had all the time in the worlds to see the slightest minutiae in refined detail. Strangely, even he didn't think it was because of yokai blood.

Though he never felt the impact of the round.

First, he felt his footing slip. Sesshomaru crashed to his knees, then, with the uncomprehending shock of it all, to his face. Overhead from the tree he'd given his back, splintered bark rained down.

"Hey, the captain missed!"

"I did not! The coward slipped!" His ego affronted, Antonio fired again and this time there resounded a yelp of pain. "How's that for good aim?"

The wasted ammunition was ample distraction for Sesshomaru to regain his bearings and spring to his feet. He was going for Bakusaiga when a gruff voice announced, "You're comin' with me!"

His blade-arm in an iron grip, Sesshomaru was dragged around behind the tree, through the weakest barrier of gunmen and into the cool foliage of the forest. Unfortunately, the mortals were not as ignorant of his actions as before.

"Worthless lay-abouts!" Antonio roared. "The snot's got an accomplice! Go!"

The horses were charging again, but balked at the thicket's edge. The brush was too heavy to enter on horseback and the cluster would have to pursue their quarry on foot. Antonio snarled. This was turning into more trouble than what it was worth and he was not getting his immediate satisfaction.

Sesshomaru would have been pleased to know of the diminishing gusto behind him. Except his humor was snuffed by two factors: first, that _he_ was the one taking evasive precautions; and secondly, that this time as he ran through the woods, Sesshomaru stumbled and nearly fell. His fluid grace was a memory – or perhaps, more aptly, a wish. Trying to see how his unlikely rescuer managed, Sesshomaru only glimpsed the generic armor and made what seemed to be furred leggings. He could only guess that this person had run this trail many times before. Sesshomaru lengthened his strides and attempted to match the steps. He was met with mouthful of long, black hair. He snorted, jerking away and almost tripping again.

_A _young_ man, then. Young and foolhardy._

"Over here!" An abrupt twist and Sesshomaru was careening off a cliff. For one dizzying moment a sea of treetops and a splash of sky were all that swam in the daiyokai's vision.

"Hey, grab on!"

The annoyed admonition was enough to anchor Sesshomaru again. Scrambling limbs finding footholds and grips in the cliff's side, the dog-demon felt his new acquaintance ease his hold on him. Good.

Fingers snapped obnoxiously in the Western Lord's face. "Hey, pretty boy, you awake in there? I said, get a hold of this" – he pointed to a healthy vine – "and swing down into that cave over there with me. Can you do that?"

Sesshomaru was about to scoff that he could fly down there, but the intense stare of dark, quizzical eyes deterred further remark. One hand over the other, Sesshomaru scaled down to the ledge of the dim cavity. He had barely set foot in when two large wolves, their fur flecked with silver, slunk out. One had a black patch over fur over its forehead, the other carried a well-gnawed bone; both displayed full sets of serrated teeth.

On any other day, Sesshomaru would have ignored simple beast – killed them if they were persistent. But these hours' latest revelations were not something he cared to dismiss. So he slid his wary gaze to his host.

"Knock it off, you two," he barked, and immediately the wolves submissively backed off, ears flattened and tails tucked away. Turning to Sesshomaru, he continued, "Now, if I'm not mistaken, you're Mutt Face's older brother. Can't remember if we've met before, but name's Koga and I've got some information I'm willing to trade if you'll answer my questions."

"Koga was the chieftain of the wolf-demon clan," Sesshomaru droned. Did this short-life mistake him for a fool? He already looked ten years older than the Koga that Sesshomaru had once encountered. If he were truly yokai, then he would not have aged at a human rate. "Tch."

"You're looking at the remains of my pack and what these last 'progressive' years have done to us. I know you're feeling the effects too, Sesshomaru." He leaned in, but the proud dog-demon stood his ground. "You didn't really think you'd survive that second round, did you? We might not be on what you consider the same level, but we're forged from the same kiln. One the new humans wish to stoke."

Sesshomaru flinched. He wasn't certain if it was that rougish flash of fang or the flicker of sapphire in brown eyes, but he was suddenly reconsidering. He was...doubting.

_This mortal a demon? A creature of yokai kith?_

Koga smirked. "Better take a seat."

For the second time that day, Sesshomaru collapsed to his knees.


	16. Tit for Tat

**Tit for Tat**

_Horse hair._

Sesshomaru fingered the fine knotwork of the lasso. Such a simple trick, but it must have taken some time to master slipping it about an ankle unnoticed. Perhaps he should pummel the wolf for causing him public disgrace. A thank you was out of the question. He eyed Koga.

"You fashioned this?"

Koga shrugged. "Saved your life didn't it?"

"Hmm…" Sesshomaru's gaze returned to the rope. In the calm of the wolf-demon's den he could put the contretemps at the back of his mind. It was a moment's hesitation. Something he hadn't felt in many years. An unnerving fear.

Even in his most daunting battles, Sesshomaru had not felt afraid. He had lived long enough to anticipate every "variable". The last time he had been wounded to the brink of death was from Tetsusaiga's Wind Scar. The power of his _father_. To be injured and to have fear knife through him was something no human should ever be entitled to upon Sesshomaru. That one of their little trinkets had shattered more than his armor was the apex of absurdity. An insect with a toy!

_But…_

He glanced away from the tattered bits of his abdominal plate. Koga didn't return the questioning stare.

"My kind grows small and stupid, Sesshomaru." The chieftain scratched the ears of the wolf with the black fur patch. "I don't think this one even remembers the time when he walked on two legs."

The daiyokai shifted his weight. "But you maintain your form," he observed.

"An' f'what?" Koga snapped, frightening the wolf in his lap. "Look at me! I look like a damn human! I can't even smell anymore! I might as well be blind."

Sesshomaru overlooked the outburst. It was expected. "But what allowed you to keep a two-legged shape?"

The furred headband was tugged lower over darkening eyes. "I…" he started. "I dunno really….It's either 'cause I'm stronger than my packmates or…"

Sesshomaru didn't prompt him. He waited.

"Or 'cause I kept thinking of her." Koga fell silent again as old sentiments drudged up from the murk of memories. "It's been over ten years and though I can't recall her name anymore I can still see her face. That face that looked at me and told me how I wasn't just some dumb brute, that I wasn't just a beast without an identity or a cause. T'her, I wasn't yokai or Master of the Wolf Demons, I was a friend. I was Koga."

The sparkling azure that swallowed the plain brown irises made the hairs on the nape of Sesshomaru's neck stand at attention. Koga still believed in himself because he had someone who he knew would always have faith in him. Sesshomaru tried to wrap his mind around the concept. Surprisingly, it wasn't very difficult.

"What are you smiling about?" the wolf demanded.

"Heh, you said that we were of the same kiln and yet here you are in need of some woman to call you back to yourself. I don't need a crutch."

"Hey, jerk, watch the ego! If it weren't for me, you'd be someone foreign devil's hunting trophy."

"I didn't ask for your assistance and I certainly don't require a losing pack of emaciated wolves to hinder me." Sesshomaru stood to leave. This deviation in his plans was proving fruitless. He'd obtained no new, useful information. Still, he couldn't resist inquiring, "This woman, have you seen her of recent?"

The question caught Koga off guard. He lowered his fists. "Actually…uh, nope. I even checked with Mutt – er, your brother an' he said she returned to her own time. I didn't believe him at first, but the seasons started passing and I couldn't whiff her scent no matter where I traveled. I finally gave up." Ashamed, his head hung slightly. "I moved away, tried to get a fresh start…and ran into them. I've relocated multiple times since."

Save that Koga may have led the vermin here, Sesshomaru didn't particularly care about the last sentences. They were beside the point. "What do you mean that this woman 'returned to her own time'? Was her name Kagome?"

Koga's ears literally pricked up. "Yes! That's it! Do you know where she is?"

Sesshomaru brushed away the hands that had clamped to his shoulders. "I may."

Teeth clenched. "What?"

"You said you had information to offer me. I didn't come here for claptrap about your shriveling self. When did you first meet them?"

"Eh…about five, six years back. Their weapons weren't so strong or quick back then. Only the older models had to be reloaded after every single round."

Sesshomaru stared, unfazed.

The wolf-demon thought a minute longer. "They're working their way around the island's perimeter. I notice though they almost always set up a port wherever one of those guys in the funny brown robes says so."

"Their priests."

"Yeah, whatever."

Sesshomaru chewed his lip thoughtfully. The back of his hand suddenly felt the blow it had dealt anew. He'd have to stop spending time in his rash sibling's vicinity. It was rubbing off terribly.

"Geez, wouldja lookit that."

"Hmm?" The daiyokai glanced over his shoulder, then back at Koga. "What?"

"Your hand…it's already…I mean, it took me a good month before I lost mine."

Sesshomaru examined his nails. And they were just that. A little long, but still just plain fingernails. He grimaced.

"Have you gotten a look at yourself lately?"

"You're not helping, wolf."

Koga shrugged, but Sesshomaru was already kneeling over the pool of water inside the cave. His reflection wavered, but it was solid and true. Sesshomaru scrutinized harder. He didn't quite remembered his facial markings being so faint. Or his hair such a dark silver. He couldn't remember appearing so..._muted_. "It's the lighting," he pronounced.

"Whatever you say." Koga hadn't missed how his companion's back had stiffened. Figured that someone with an inflated head could have his confidence shaken to its moorings by a human.

_By a human who doesn't belong here. Identity torn asunder in an eyeblink. Absurd…_

Sesshomaru ran his fingers through the water. "Let's go."

Koga's lopsided grin lost several molars at the dark figure that stood framed in his home's entrance. "We've got a straggler."

Sesshomaru recognized the gagging scent of gunpowder and, judging by the looks of his armor and weaponry, this one was armed to the teeth. Stepping in front of Koga, the dog-demon smirked.

"Welcome."


	17. The Mind's Eye

**The Mind's Eye**

Kohaku's breath had been coming in short gasps when he finally came to the end of an overgrown thicket where the hoofprints had ended. He didn't waste time analyzing them. The bullet holes in the surrounding trees were ample evidence he was on the right track. Reaching behind his back, the demonslayer flung out his kusarigama. Thick brier was effortlessly mowed down in the razor wake before the weapon was expertly caught by its master. Kohaku gathered the chain and hastened his steps.

_Please be unscathed._

The taijiya's thoughts quickly shifted to his own welfare when he nearly slipped off the sudden drop. The cliff overlooked a breathtaking view, but Kohaku's lungs failed him for an entirely different reason.

It occurred to him that it would be within Sesshomaru's proud mien to die at his own hand than another's.

In the warm sunshine Kohaku shivered bitterly.

No, there had to be another way. Last he remembered, it was within Sesshomaru's power to fly if not at the very least to survive a good drop. Kohaku peered over the ledge. A very good drop.

But what if he was undergoing the same transformation as he had witnessed overcome Kilala? Was it only a trick of the mind? Kohaku wondered. Then again, the taijiya hadn't brought his faithful feline along either.

Gritting his teeth, Kohaku made to continue his search – until he heard a throaty guffaw echo from…below him? Every muscle strained to stillness, he listened intently. There were two voices and between them Sesshomaru's distinct reproach resonated.

Reaching under a shoulder plate, Kohaku withdrew some rope, secured it to a healthy birch, and scaled down until he spotted a cavity in the sheer rock. The light thud of his landing alerted the other person with Sesshomaru, this man was flanked by two snarling beasts. Kohaku hadn't expected wolves.

Before he could go for his blade, Sesshomaru stepped between them.

"Welcome."

"Lord Sesshomaru," Kohaku exhaled. He was all right – for the most part. Something had transpired and Kohaku was sure the triumphant didn't lurk in caves after victory. The daiyokai's armor was in shambles while the tears in his hakama from running through bramble and bracken were as plainly visible as the bright, fresh scratches flecked across his hands and face. There weren't many, but they were _there_.

"So are you from Kagome's village?" Koga snagged Kohaku's full attention.

"And you are?"

"I'm Koga of the Wolf Demon Clan. Kagome and I go way back."

Kohaku's eyes flicked to Sesshomaru who nodded slightly. "He's accompanying us."

"Very well then." Kohaku's grip on the kusarigama relaxed. "Allow me to lead the – "

"Whooo-hoo!" In one bound Koga was out and scrambling up the rocks, his furred companions in tow.

_Lively_.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, made no sign to move. Folding his arms, he leaned against the side of the stone wall. On the hand visible to Kohaku, a line of scarlet cleft the dog-demon's fair skin.

As far as he could remember Kohaku had never seen Sesshomaru scratched. Gushing blood, pierced through, nearly disemboweled, but never scratched. Never wounded trivially. Somehow it made Sesshomaru seem more…

The taijiya fixed his gaze on the great mountains in the distance. Majestic, timeless, immortal – that was how he wanted to remember his respected mentor. He turned around trying to smile, but had to redirect the amiability to a smoother stalactite.

"Shall we return, Lord Sesshomaru?" He barely remembered to make it a question, not because one was never past formalities with a Sesshomaru but because he did not want the daiyokai to discover the layer of apprehension in his voice.

"Yes."

Kohaku sighed, making an effort not to move too quickly from the cave.

"And Kohaku?"

Damn. "Sir?"

"Look toward me when you address this Sesshomaru."

"I shall remember, sir." He bowed to avoid eye contact altogether.

"Is that so?"

"Yes." He bobbed his head and blinked.

"Hnn…With whom did you come?"

"The monk Xavier and his apprentice, Yajiro, are out searching for you as well." He turned to gesture outward.

"Kohaku."

"Sir?"

"Look _upon_ me."

Kohaku's shoulders tensed. Finally, he bit his lip and had to look at his feet. "I cannot, Lord Sesshomaru. I-I find myself in an unworthy state."

The daiyokai leaned forward. The boy shrank back, but something told Sesshomaru that it wasn't from any preternatural push. It was purely respect. So then, where was his aura?

"Tell me what you see," he hissed.

Kohaku opened his eyes. "Daiyokai. Strong features and vibrant colors…"

"Candidly."

Kohaku faltered. He didn't recognize that silver mane that was three shades too dark as Sesshomaru's, but then how could it be much different? "And two fangs in the upper set of teeth," he concluded. His memory fumbled for a clearer image. Didn't Sesshomaru have fangs in his lower jaw as well? And weren't his ears just a little sharper? He wasn't sure and he didn't mention the thoughts. If they were wrong he could not lie to Sesshomaru.

But judging by that expression, I think he wishes I would.

The dog-demon didn't leave enough time to make amends. Already outside, Kohaku had no choice but to follow.

Koga's foot tapped irritably. "What was takenin' ya so long?"

"Sorry," Kohaku mumbled, not necessarily to Koga. "This way." He paused when he noticed their silver-maned companion stalked in a different direction.

Without turning around, Sesshomaru called, "I don't need an escort."

Kohaku wondered if Sesshomaru could smell Xavier and Yajiro and if perhaps that upset him. But how good were his olfactory capabilities again? A mile's radius? Or only a field's range? And why was he, Kohaku, one of the people closest to the stoic daiyokai, second guessing?

Sesshomaru suppressed the tremor in his spine.

_Even he doubts._

The forest's shady trees were encroaching, hiding Kohaku and Koga more and more with each increasing step. It was too late for Sesshomaru to turn back. He tried to tell himself there was no reason, but the fact remained that he was now alone and, consequently, in very bad company.


	18. Close Shave

**Close Shave**

Antonio's stallion had become numb to the blood that dribbled down his lathered flanks and withers. Whether the injuries were from his master's weight in the saddle, the lashes of the riding crop, or the sharp, silver spurs, the animal didn't care anymore. The past hours had been a tedium of pointless searching and loud, empty threats.

Eyes fluttering, the horse dozed on foot until a strange scent made him jerk his to full attention. Nostrils flaring, he nickered nervously. This wasn't the dull, congestive scent of gunpowder or the nose burning stench of human carcasses. It was something far more unnerving; an ancient and predatory presence. It was faint, but that it existed in the same location made the stallion danced in place, ready to run.

At the sudden spirit in his mount, Antonio sat upright. He looked around, but his gaze fell on the small mule that plodded toward them. Its rider waved a sealed envelope with an insignia that solicited a growl from Antonio.

"Commander Santiago de Cordoba wishes your audience, Captain." The rider had barely turned over the note before it was snatched from his grip and torn open.

The paper was fine, the handwriting pleasing, and the words… Antonio snarled at the note, then carelessly let it flutter to the ground. As far as he was concerned, he'd never seen it.

The messenger would have made comment that the note read "immediately", but – eyeing the rifle in the captain's lap – he had a hunch that Antonio was the sort who would ignore the old saying and just shoot him.

"How did you find me?" Antonio began to ask, but his question was lost in the cacophony of a new riding party that pounded closer.

Antonio tried to get his horse to gallop off, but there was nothing for it. The dumb beast was essentially asleep where it stood. In the time it took to move one step, Antonio's group was surrounded in the blazing red and silver banners of peninsular troops.

"Antonio," a stern voice called from a high-stepping bay at the forefront.

The captain gritted his teeth only one person could address him with such blatant familiarity. "Yes, Commander Cordoba?"

Santiago de Cordoba rode up until he was abreast with Antonio. "Where is your summons?"

Guilty eyes involuntarily tilted down at the mud and Antonio cursed inwardly to see the flinty gaze that had already gilded Cordoba's features so early in their conversation. It was happening more and more these days.

"If you are unable to answer that, then could you explain why you are leading all these fine men out here in the middle of nowhere?" His voice was gentle as silk, but the razors it concealed were present.

Antonio faltered. "We were, ah, that is, I was taking the, ah, initiative of securing a passage through the village just east of here."

"And why are you not there? Do you know the detour you created for my corsair?"

"Yes, er, I experienced some difficulty with one of the locals. He attacked the missionary Father Xavier. In defense of my faith and patriotism to my country I led us after him."

Cordoba straightened in his saddle. "You wasted time and energy after one man? Where is he now?"

The stammers started up again, but Cordoba cut them off with a wave of his arm. "Return to port with me." Antonio flinched when Cordoba drew his saber. The blade whisked lightly above the ground catching a scrap of damp parchment. "And I believe that reads _immediately_."

Wiping the blade's point over his subordinate's armor, Cordoba clucked his horse into motion and called escorts to the side of his "misguided captain".

Antonio grumbled in his saddle, staring balefully at the forest.

He was not through here yet.

---

Sesshomaru kept his back pinned to the tree until he was sure there remained not one human in the vicinity. Their noxious disbelief, however, hung in the region like one of Naraku's miasmas. It wasn't just the odious captain, either. Sesshomaru believed he could have ignored that. It was overhearing the stories exchanged between Cordoba's men and the others.

"Heard you guys were after a monster, what kind?"

"Nah, turned out just to be some idiot who didn't want to go along with the program."

And the conversation repeated through the crowd, little variation beyond speculation if Sesshomaru had been a beggar, a thief, or a second-string samurai. Not one mention of what he might truly be.

How frustrating! How _wrong_! These were the sort of fools whose hearts he'd strike with terror and who knew the legends enough to respect and fear him.

As if I'm nothing…

Lengthening his strides, Sesshomaru kept moving. At least the ground under his feet had yet to break.


	19. Minutiae

_A/N: "Xenophobia" is going to a weekly update routine. My life's getting almost as hectic as Sesshomaru's._

**Minutiae **

Koga was never one to lag. He hated the inconvenience and made a point to reprimand his comrades if they so much as trailed. Then again, with the years, the young wolf-demon had learned to make exceptions. Seeing his strange guides and with only a vague idea of where they might be headed, he kept his distance at the back of the party. The demonslayer had stopped inviting him to come forward after the second call. Koga had a hunch that the guy got the point. It's not that he didn't trust them – he was following, right? – he didn't like the way they "smelled".

Amber shoulder pads stooped slightly. Apparently Sesshomaru wasn't the only person Kohaku could make feel uncomfortable. The thought set the taijiya ill at ease.

_My faith hasn't been shaken, I know who and what Lord Sesshomaru is_, he told himself. Kohaku was only questioning after all. Surely one such as Sesshomaru could understand something like that. But the blatant mortification that wracked the daiyokai's flawless composure for even a second set Kohaku back to mentally battering himself. _Why_ did he have to question? It had never come to the forefront of his mind before.

Yajiro's sandals shuffled passively beside Kohaku. The demonslayer hoisted his weapon closer. No, he couldn't blame Xavier's translator…though it was strange that one who had shared nearly the same upbringing as Kohaku should so easily be able to dismiss yokai from his comprehension altogether. Were humans that capable of shallow faith and ideals?

_Am I one of those people?_

Kohaku sank deeper into his own thoughts until a certain consistent babbling became impossible to ignore. From his mare, Xavier prattled off the "amazing sallies" he'd had the pleasure of experiencing in his brief stay so far. He was particularly intrigued with the level of cleanliness and order in daily life and if that was why people ate with sticks around here? And, oh, how fascinating it was that the writing system was not only from right to left as in the Holy Land but also top to bottom. Who could have ever thought a people so distant from the West were capable of such astounding civility!

Kohaku nor Koga could follow half of what the missionary was gushing, but the rushing words may have been a breath of fresh air in the suffocating silence. Kohaku at least was grateful they kept his mind from wandering too far.

---

For the second time, Sesshomaru retraced his steps. A broken branch looked no different from the other snapped debris around it. His nose sifted through the air and came up with general scents of rotting wood, moist earth, and crushed mulch, but there was no definition to it. He was suddenly illiterate in the map of smells he was so used to navigating. His precious nose was a mere shade of its former glory.

This wasn't supposed to happen to him. None of this was. The tarnishing of his identity, himself his memories and very being. Never had Sesshomaru felt so intruded upon. It wasn't possible!

_Or perhaps it is I who am not possible... _

_To them_, he hastily added. He was, after all, a living and breathing being – no one, nothing could deprive him of that.

Holding his hands in private reassurance, he observed they were there in perfect symmetry. The stripes on his wrists weren't present simply because he hadn't flushed venom into them. With a scoff, Sesshomaru called his yoki, the very quintessence of his species. Nothing came, but something did happen. His hands! They appeared – or rather, disappeared to transparency. They flickered for a full three heartbeats before solidifying again.

Sesshomaru braced himself, biting on his lip until he tasted blood – real, warm and full of metallic tang. But why was he suddenly chilled? He felt a tremor starting at the base of his spine that crept up every disc in his vertebrae like the unwanted slither of an unseen viper where only the glimpse of scale betrayed the full-blown danger.

_Stop it!_

The dog-demon shook himself briskly and marched over to where he close heard gurgling water. Sesshomaru glared into the stream, willing his reflection to surface. Where was it? Just because some mortal fool doubted….

"Dai-yoh-kai," he enunciated. The word was everything he was; a creature that traced the dark edges of human imagination and defied all their realities. He waited a moment, waited to see some trace of himself reflect. Nothing did, but Sesshomaru refused to give a breath for any chance of doubt. He splashed his foot through the water, sneering at how foolish he was behaving.

He stopped.

_Foot? _

Since when did the Western Lord go about barefoot? He wore…sandals? No, that wasn't right, but his pantleg billowed like an apparition's and it was difficult to see.

_Like trying to see one's own face._

Absentmindedly, Sesshomaru swept a hand between his bangs, trying to grab the mark that once graced his forehead. What was it again? For that matter, what color were his eyes? Brown? Blue? Silver like his hair?

_Gods, what was it?_

The icy sensation returned, surging with everything the daiyokai had tried to keep at the back of his mind.

_"What are you?"_

_"...no more demon than I!"_

_"We grow small and stupid."_

Sesshomaru slammed his fist into the dirt. No fissure or even small shockwave resulted. He beat his knuckles raw – enraged because he couldn't remember his own damn eye color.


	20. Phantom Beast

**Phantom Beast**

The sunlight that filtered into Rin's room was as pale as her sheets and just a shade darker than her face. She moaned, rolling over stiffly to her side. Kagome's medicine was working, but Rin had never thought being alive could be such a pain. It's not like she had gotten to see very much of it herself…

Her baby!

Determined to ignore the ache cramping her sides and nausea plaguing her head, she stood, but swayed from left to right and was forced to resume a crouched position. Tilting her head just enough to see the inside of the cradle, the young woman saw where her infant snoozed peacefully, mouth agape and rosy flush tingeing plump cheeks. At the sight of the most beautiful thing in the her world Rin sighed. Then cringed at the zing in her lungs. She forced herself to straighten. Rin knew she was going to be all right – she had to get better, for Akika – though presently maybe it was in her best interests to lay down a little longer.

Gentle cheek had barely touched firm pillow when Rin felt her whole spine stiffen. She winced. This wasn't from the illness; it was that gut sensation that something was amiss. Sitting up, she scanned the room. Nothing had entered, everything was in place – the malaise seemed to seep from outside on the veranda, rolling inside in heavy, suffocating waves.

Shuffling to her knees, Rin scooted across the floor towards the open screen and in the same direction at the sensation that made her stomach churn. She didn't call for Kagome. For some reason the young woman couldn't place, she knew that even a priestess like Kagome would not sense demonic aura in this muddled atmosphere. This wasn't a matter of spirit, but one of heart. Human language perhaps had no words for it beyond raw despair.

Her spine tingled again. Though she had encountered many demons and even befriended a few, Rin had never seen a ghost before. Spirits, yes; the kind with the booming voices and frightening powers; but a ghost, never.

Inching closer still, Rin held her breath. She wasn't a child anymore, but it never hurt to be on the safe side. She was young and had, hopefully, many more years before she crossed over. If this specter reached for her she would bolt.

Another inch forward.

Without any real thought process, Rin pinched the back of her hand and checked her pulse. Still alive…but was _he_?

The apparition was transparent, Rin could see the muted colors of pewter stone and budding trees of the garden behind him. From her perspective, she saw that though its clothes were the color of death, white and immaculate, there were faint red blotches on the tattered fringes of sleeves and on one side of the shoulder, perhaps where a family crest may have been. She dared to creep a little closer; a shroud of dark silver hair, almost like that of a village elder, fell like a curtain and guarded the ghost's face from immediate identification. Garments and silver locks swayed in a breeze that wasn't there – unless the breath of existence counted. But the frame of phantom creature remained stagnant, slumped against the side of the house with legs crossed and arms askew like a forgotten rag doll. Its upturned palm that showed through to the wooden floor planks below sprawled out into long, gnarled fingers.

Boldness born of nothing but dumb curiosity made Rin want to reach out to grasp those twisted digits. Although certain she was not going to die, not today anyway, Rin sensed that this specter had come seeking her specifically. As she reached out to the open palm the fingers curled slowly outward in mute supplication. One was even tipped in what looked like a claw.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

The silver head tilted slightly, strands of hair parting just enough to reveal alien muddied eyes with rounded pupils.

A hand holding her jaw in place, Rin braced against the harrowing realization.

"What have they done to you?"


	21. The End of It All

**The End of It All**

Unlike Sesshomaru, Rin had often been victim to speaking more than she should, and at this moment, with the strongest man she had ever known rendered inert before her, she deeply regretted her words.

_What have they done to you?_

Gods, that was like going up to a gored human in shock and pointing out all the blood he was gushing. How could she be so insensitive?

_How could _this_ be?_

Rin had only seen Sesshomaru look this disheveled once, unconscious beside a tree from battle wounds she didn't yet understand. In the mists of memory, she still recalled that for all his disarray, the daiyokai still carried himself with his signature air of barely contained pride.

The ragged, stooped sylph was scarcely a shadow of the former Western Lord.

In the silence of Rin did the only thing she could think of: she started talking.

"I'm surprised really, Lord Sesshomaru, that you actually let them live. Quite a show of mercy on your honored part."

She glanced out of the corner of her eye. He hadn't stirred. Rin drew a breath. "Do yokai forget themselves?" The young woman bit her lip and made for a quick recovery. "That is to say, do demons go soft after a time? Since I was young I was warned that yokai were creatures to be feared, not friends with whom to keep close company." Rin had no idea where this inane conversation was going and Sesshomaru's continued unresponsiveness didn't sit well with her. She kept talking.

"Though I guess I went up to you anyway, huh? Even if you only matched my mother's description of yokai to the finest detail. Your ears, for instance, were very telling." Rin traced the curved ridge on the bottom and Sesshomaru finally offered a reaction. That flinch was enough. "They were pointed, you see. Not large, but sharp at the tips." She flicked her finger backward in swift swoops so her audience of one could feel the incline. Then, stifling a gasp, Rin smiled to see that the flesh was slowly remolding itself, streamlining into a fine, angular point. The ear twitched.

"Though I have to admit," she continued eagerly, "that these were not the first quality I noticed. Actually, those eyes of yours. Now that's something! Looking into dog-demon eyes!" Rin added a little breathless sigh. "I'll bet that you look at your reflection seldom, Lord Sesshomaru. Such a proud being needn't have to ascertain regularly his own majesty. But to see your eyes!" Caught up in her own frenzy, Rin cupped the daiyokai's chin in one hand, forcing him to gaze at her. To the young woman's private delight, Sesshomaru resisted a little.

"Yes, that's it!" She smiled into flat brown eyes. "They were a luminous gold – crimson with your power whenever your anger boiled over, but gold always otherwise. I envy how your pupils are cat-slit so you can see at night. How blessed to be a yokai."

Sesshomaru remained silent, only half hearing the effusive words that bubbled from Rin. But it was Rin who spoke to him. Recollection glowing dimly in his mind, Sesshomaru sifted through memories, memories that were his and could never be tainted by anyone, human or otherwise – the memories of when he first met Rin. Her smile, her laughter…Rin had always had the courage to approach and speak what occupied her mind, even when at first the very strength of speech had fled her young grasp. The years following had never ebbed at her soul like most people; Rin had matured splendidly and so maintained her faith. Sesshomaru could see it with his own eyes. Eyes that she was now calling…_gold?_

"That's right, and silver hair, too!" She pointed to the sky. "See? It was highlighted much like the heavens. You were fortunate to be born colorful, my lord. May I?" Rin didn't wait for Sesshomaru to respond this time. The haughtiness was flickering in his eyes again and she didn't want to waste another second. Indecorously, she poked a finger on his forehead. "This azure crescent moon" – she moved down to the sides of his face – "these magenta stripes, thin and graceful…they used to baffle me until I found out what they meant." Reaching down to pick up a wrist, she traced a couple more lines and stripes Sesshomaru hadn't noticed before seemed to show where her finger trailed.

"You're venomous."

Sesshomaru tilted his head.

"Ah, you smile, my lord! Your fangs are showing!"

The dog-demon immediately clamped his mouth shut. He did not smile. That much he knew; but inside his mouth his tongue ran over teeth – and four fangs, top and bottom.

Rin reached out for his hands, taking them in hers. "Claws," she said simply.

Sesshomaru relaxed. Like taking one's foot out of uncomfortable footwear, he felt his fingers take their true shape. And they did not fade or disappear. Rin was holding on to him, what more proof did he need?

There was a sudden tug on his hands, or as they were, claws. "Let's go inside, it's getting cold and late. As you yourself would say, 'There is no further reason to tarry here.'"

Sesshomaru smirked at the ridiculous imitation. He knew his voice did not sound like that. Easily, he rose. The weight of twin blades at his side never hindering the motion. Now where had they been?

Sesshomaru didn't concern himself with it. He kept his posture erect and head level, but his blazing amber eyes found Rin.

"Lead the way."


	22. Reunion

_A/N: Sorry for the little delay. Also, "Xenophobia" has been nominated for best canon by the Inuyasha Fan Guild. Here's a thank you to all the readers who make the next instalments possible. _

_--_

**Reunion**

The pounding on the door had startled Kagome and she answered with a notched arrow, but the two large, tanned hands that scooped up hers, bow and all, melted her into a fit of giggles.

"Kagome, my love, I told you I'd return!"

At the sight of "his woman's" smile, Koga's eyes sparkled their true-blue sapphire. Kagome's grin widened; those eyes always were the wolf-demon's best feature. Flushing at her old friend's contagious effervescence, she chirped, "Please, come inside, Ko—"

"Hey, litter runt, thought you'd died." Inuyasha squeezed between his wife and one-time rival. "Too bad."

"You mean Naraku didn't put you out of your misery?" Koga feigned disinterest. "More's the pity."

Testosterone surging to his head, Inuyasha pressed forward until his chest buffeted against the wolf chieftain's armor. "Hey, we're the ones who took him out."

"Oh, yeah? Well, 'bout high time you were good for something, dog-breath," Koga retorted, his head knocking against Inuyasha's.

"Ech, up close looks like someone's gotten old. Years haven't been kind to you, eh?"

"Kagome could use a mature man like me!"

At this point the said miko interjected. "Say, Koga, how did you come about here anyway?"

Hands planted on either shoulder of his obstacle, Koga frog-leaped over Inuyasha. "Destiny," he sighed dreamily into Kagome's eyes.

"Seriously," Inuyasha snarled coupled with a yank on Koga's ponytail.

"Fine, I also ran into some young guy – looked like a demonslayer – and a couple of foreign humans. They were walking this way and once I recognized the village I was" – Koga slid back to Kagome – "inexorably drawn here."

"Y'mean y'asked around and found this joint."

"Put it however you want," the wolf snorted indifferently, "I'm here all the same. Did kinda surprise me, though, that you guys wound up so rich. Hella nice home."

"Actually, this is Kohaku's house," Kagome corrected.

"Kohaku?"

"The demonslayer you met on your way back here, idiot. He's Sango's little brother." Inuyasha smirked triumphantly. "Guess it's true what they say: the mind's the first thing to go."

"Shaddup, mutt! I know just who y'mean!" Koga barked, although he was still having trouble equating the skinny boy of yore with this last person. "After all, your brother recognized him. Say, where is Sesshomaru?"

Inuyasha's ears pricked up. "You met up with Sesshomaru?"

"That's what I said! What, still young and your hearing's already going?" Koga didn't dwell on the gibe, though. "The big guy was in pretty rough shape when I saw him…Hell, now that I'm getting a good look at ya, were your pupils always round?"

"What?" The hanyo backed up a step.

"Hey, easy, Inuyasha," Kagome said, shuffling out of his way. "They're slitted, so what?

"I know that, but…." Anxiety racing up his spine, Inuyasha asked, "Where are Kohaku and the others?"

Koga gave a careless shrug. "I dunno. Left 'em behind a few hills ago when I spotted the village. Those other two guys were givin' me the creeps."

"What?!" Inuyasha shrieked. "You just ditched 'em without trying t'see what y'could learn? You idiot!"

"Hey, I ain't the idiot here, halfwit!"

Their quibbling starting anew, Kagome sighed tiredly between the two yokai. If anything, she would have liked to have moved the "conversation" beyond the entrance hall and into the guest room where it might have been more civil. But then again, asking for civility with both Inuyasha and Koga in the same room was like asking a tornado to go around your house. She could only wish something would reset their attention.

_"Priestess."_

The voice from the next room over was immeasurably soft, hardly more than a whisper; yet it made itself heard above the noisy bickering and immediately there was silence in the hall.

Soundlessly, Rin was already seated at the low-rise table in the center of the room. Leaning against the wall, the epitome of mild disinterest, Sesshomaru who spoke from across the guests' quarters. "Are they coming?"

Kagome did her best to ignore the goose bumps that marched up and down her arm. The only times she remembered Sesshomaru's voice in that register was when he meant killing.

_Maybe it's safer outside._

"Alright, don't get your fur in a bunch," Inuyasha drawled in classic irreverence. "We're just getting reacquainted." Leader of the group, the hanyo ushered his company to the table.

"Noted," the daiyokai droned, deigning to sit across. "And where were you, younger brother?"

"Surveillance," Inuyasha grunted as he wedged himself between Kagome and Koga, who only got up and sat on the miko's opposite side. Flinging a baleful look at Koga, the half-demon continued, "I bumped into a few other namban."

Sesshomaru stared intently at his steepled fingers, not yet looking at his sibling. "So they can see you?"

"Yeah, and? They just said a quick hello and wanted to check out my clothes t'see if I'd sell 'em. Damn, they're weird. They make me feel a little fidgety, but otherwise…"

Kagome glanced from the unusually quiet Rin to Sesshomaru. She addressed the daiyokai first. "Did something happen between you and them, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Fighting back his own nausea, the dog-demon straightened, drew breath to answer, and stopped short when he caught sight of his half-sibling.

"What's with that stupid look on your face?" Inuyasha snorted.

Sesshomaru turned away so it didn't look like he was gaping, but the afterimage in his mind wouldn't fade; Inuyasha sat with dark, black, human hair. His dog ears nowhere to be seen. Sesshomaru snapped his eyes shut, forcing himself to remember his brother's countenance. Eyes golden, like his; silvery mane, a shade or two darker than his own; and two pricked dog ears. Sesshomaru opened his eyes again.

"Lord Sesshomaru, do you feel ill?" Kagome leaned over the table and Sesshomaru could sense Rin scooting closer beside him.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" Inuyasha actually appeared worried.

Clearing his vision with memories in perfect focus, Sesshomaru nodded as if answering someone. "Just like that."

A canine ear swiveling, Inuyasha blinked. "Just like wha–?"

The hanyo broke off, interrupted by a rap on the foray's wall. Kagome was the first to recover. "Yes?" she called, bustling over and away from the uncomfortably tense atmosphere of the table.

"Lady Kagome," a familiar reverberating voice echoed from the entrance. "I've some guests who could shed light up our…ah, circumstances. May I show them in?"

"Kohaku," Kagome laughed in spite of herself. "Why are you asking permission to enter your own home?"

Over the priestess' shoulder, Kohaku had already caught sight of Sesshomaru and, looking for all the world like an errant son, edged into the hallway. But before he could draw breath to speak a sweep of silks and soft, feminine curves filled his arms.

"You're back!" Rin held her husband tightly, a silent oath to never let him go again. For dizzying, fevered hours she wondered if their last farewell had been their final. Feeling the real strength of his warm arms encircle her, Rin couldn't imagine a time she'd been happier to be alive.

Tilting his head, Sesshomaru remembered just how young the couple had once been…and how young they still were.

"_Kohaku_."

The taijiya's head snapped up and Rin felt his whole frame stiffen to attention.

"I trust you don't practice ill hospitality in your house, am I correct?" Sesshomaru cleaned some invisible strand from his collar. "Invite them."

Seeing his mind process slowly the notion of possible forgiveness, Kagome fielded for the demonslayer. "I'll get them. Kohaku have a seat."

Robotically, he allowed his wife to lead him to the table. Sitting beside Rin, away from the daiyokai, Kohaku kept his eyes politely averted. He was stricken with regret and was too ashamed to feel worthy of meeting Sesshomaru's gaze. Even after a walk long enough for his mind to clear, Kohaku wasn't certain he could keep the doubt at bay. It wasn't until Rin nudged him the second time that he finally looked up.

The golden eyes glinted, quietly mocking in the loudest _I told you so_ Kohaku had known. He sighed. It was much better to be held in the rough harbor of Sesshomaru's dry mirth than a subject of his contempt. Kohaku had always known that much about the daiyokai. It was a constant.

"They're here," Kagome announced brightly with a short bow.

Yajiro left his sandals in the reception hall, his master following suit; then, as both men cordially entered, Kohaku relaxed; Rin smiled; and Sesshomaru steeled himself for whatever was to come.


	23. The Other Side of the World

_A/N: Just a note that "_Xenophobia_" has been awarded best canon at the Inuyasha Fan Guild. I extend my sincerest thanks to all the readers who have made this story possible._

_--_

**The Other Side of the World**

A small smile played on Xavier's lips. Never had he seen as fine a lacquer on any table as the one where he sat. However, the expression that glowed back at him was hardly anything like the grim faces of his hosts; surprisingly, among them were two women, an occurrence he counted rare in his travels. Typically, the higher one scaled the social ladder the less of the fairer sex one saw. And now the two ladies exchanged worried glances. Beside him, Yajiro scooted awkwardly in place, his eyes adhered to the table, though Xavier doubted it was to appraise the craftsmanship. Was it from the presence of _yokai,_ as the indigenous called the beings? They were a sight to beheld, no doubt. Xavier did his best not to gawk at Sesshomaru's silvery mane, but the sensory memory of the silky strands sliding through his fingers caused him to flinch. Automatically, Xavier reached for the little carving of his faith that rested just over his chest.

From history texts of nearly a decade ago, Kagome's memory flickered in recognition at the wooden pendant that dangled from the man's a neck, a cross.

_So he's a missionary. I wonder what he plans to say._

"I am honored to be seated in your esteemed company," Xavier began politely, his accent wavering. "Lord Sesshomaru...one hopes that…er, I have…" Floundering for the right words, he succumbed to Portuguese and looked kindly at Yajiro.

Koga and Inuyasha drummed claws impatiently, but Sesshomaru tipped his head, waiting for the visitors to continue.

"What Master Xavier means," Yajiro resumed, "is that he hopes you didn't take offense from earlier…miscommunications. His is much different culture as I'm sure you are aware."

Inuyasha smirked; he got the impression that occasionally this Yajiro added words Xavier didn't speak. "And where do you wanna start with that?"

Kohaku shot the hanyo a glare for the tactless remark. Oddly enough, Inuyasha found himself simmering into his own personal grumbling. The brat had been hanging around his bastard brother far too much.

"I think," Kohaku said, choosing his words with care, "that the issue at hand is why your arrival is affecting the yokai of this land."

"I told you, there is no such thing!" Yajiro's adamancy shook the walls.

Unruffled as usual, Sesshomaru hadn't budged, but when Rin slipped a warm hand under his sleeve, she could feel the ice water that coursed under his skin and the hairs that rose above it.

"Yajiro," Xavier suddenly snapped from his seat. "I do not know what you have said, but I can see it was meant to upset our hosts, especially the kind noble who I haven't a doubt could end your existence if he so desired."

For his own part, Sesshomaru scarcely understood the missionary's rapid gibberish, but he didn't miss the overtones of respect and…_faith?_

Rin took away her hand.

"Pardon me." Of the few phrases he knew, this one rolled off Xavier's tongue with the ease of familiarity. He then turned to his acolyte, switching to sharp, guttural Portuguese. "Listen well, Yajiro. I could have let them have you last year, a scurvy pauper who stole for his living, and a thief's fate is all your life would have amounted. Do you now repay my mercy with discourtesy?"

Even with his head hung in shame, Yajiro stilled tried to edge in a few words. "But my faith requires a service to only one – "

"Have I ever asked you to forsake anything? It has always been your own free will, as any man has, that you choose your belief. If recognition of theirs is all they request, certainly you, who have lived in this culture, are far more equipped to accept than an old outsider."

Yajiro sighed. He was sick of this society that had outcast him so early in life. Just because there were yokai at the table didn't mean they differed from the human guises they wore.

Xavier noted his listless apprentice. At his wits' end for all other alternatives he smacked Yajiro behind the head, speaking irritably, "Get over yourself already and get to translating." Without waiting for a reply, the monk addressed his patient company. "I understand that there has been a good deal of misunderstandings between us. And, if I am not further mistaken, it has to do with the interpretation of a single word: yokai."

That got their attention.

The Western Lord didn't wait for the halfwit beside Xavier to translate. "And so, you are able to see us?" Sesshomaru asked, not without some discomfort. "As we are?"

Xavier noticed how the nobleman curled back his lips enough to display a full set of fangs. Obliging Sesshomaru with the expected reaction, Xavier raised his brows and widened his eyes. It was, after all, an impressive set and he was pretty sure few ever could claim they saw this daiyokai's teeth and survived. "Until my recent travels, I had never seen half the creatures others have related, but this did not mean I doubted their existence. Our world is forever of possibility and made finite only by our imaginations. If 'daiyokai' is what you call yourself than who am I to question what the Creator has placed upon the earth?"

The room was still even before Yajiro finished his translation.

Koga restlessly shifted on his knees. It was high time they cut to the chase of all this. "So what're all saying is that our existence" – he gestured quickly between himself and Sesshomaru – "is dependent on twits like him and that one believin' in us?"

Sesshomaru made no comment. Inuyasha snorted. "Well, I'm just fine."

"Shut up, mutt. Your human half is protectin' you in all this."

"Now hold on a second!" Kagome intervened before things got too explosive. "I've got something that might be useful!"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed dangerously. She had been withholding information.

"Well, there were other demons in my future era." Kagome fidgeted under the daiyokai's heated glower.

"Taraheki, the yokai spirit that calls the souls of children to the afterlife. There was also an ancient Noh mask, it had a Shikon shard in its face."

Inuyasha's ears perked up. "Don't forget So'unga."

"Oh, yeah! And that!"

Koga brightened. "So we do have a shot! Hear that, Sesshomaru?"

The daiyokai's mouth remained a flat line. He cast a slanted gaze to his right.

Kohaku sighed. "The Noh mask was exceptional since it had survived by means of a Shikon fragment. A dimension drifter and a sword spirit were non-corporeal demons," he explained.

Koga's grin was wiped clean off his face, obviously struck by the same question that plagued Sesshomaru: _What happened to demons such as I?_

"That leaves us one recourse," Sesshomaru began lightly before concluding flatly, "Get out."

Yajiro wasn't sure if it was appropriate to translate the coarseness with which the dog-demon had spoken. Xavier didn't seem to need it. The monk nodded courteously, already familiar with the words that marked when he'd worn out his welcome.

"I thought you would request something to that effect." Xavier bowed his head over steepled fingers. "And so I have sent word to our commander."

"Commander?" Kohaku inquired.

"Why, yes," Xavier replied through his assistant. "You didn't think we came of haphazard will, now did you?"

"No," Sesshomaru said. "However, it would seem that men of your station, your clergy, hold considerable capital."

"That is true, especially at this time when exploring these islands is in its nascent stage and novelties are routine. One never knows what to expect and often the clergy are solicited for guidance." He paused for Yajiro to finish before continuing. "However, it takes a militant leader to move men with sheer force."

The idea of a third party did not sit well with Sesshomaru, but if it achieved their objectives... "How long will take for this person to arrive?"

"Shortly," Xavier said. "He's quite prompt."

Inuyasha quirked a brow. "So are we talkin' sunup?"

As if in direct response there was an abrupt pounding on the outside post. "Salutations!" rang the raucous greeting in that strange, rough tongue. "Requesting audience of Father Francis Xavier with Commander Santiago de Cordoba!"

Sesshomaru gritted his fangs. He took solace in that they were punctual, but – the pounding repeated – what a different culture, indeed.


	24. Eye to Eye

_A/N: The award banner for "_Xenophobia_" is posted and may be found here (just remove the spaces): www . inuyashafanguild . com. Don't forget to check out the other fantastic stories on this site as well! Again, I thank everyone who has read and kept the story going._

_--_

**Eye to Eye**

"Xavier, are you in there?" rang the holler again. "Cordoba will not be kept waiting! He more important matters to attend!"

"I beg your pardon." The missionary pressed his head to the table before rising to speak with the men outside, grateful their coarse words were in Portuguese. "Please excuse me."

Sesshomaru stood.

Yajiro froze, unsure of the protocol in such a situation. "How would you like to see them?"

_Dead_. "I shall address them outside."

"Hey, you're moving the party?" Inuyasha spoke up.

Sesshomaru hurled the half-demon a slanted glare. "This doesn't concern you."

"Inuyasha," Kohaku said clearly and slowly. "Do not forget that Lord Sesshomaru has much more political capital than any of us here." He ended looking at Koga who had already slid into a crouch. "This is a point where if we want anything positive to come of this we leave it a single, defined judgment."

"Fine," Inuyasha snorted, shutting his eyes and crossing his arms behind his head, trying not to care. "But I get first crack at his skull if everything goes south."

Pointed ears didn't miss that last remark as Sesshomaru stepped into the daylight and the company of three cavalry men, plus one native; all of them were armed.

Once they dismounted, the tallest man stepped to the forefront. His armor glittered in the sunlight, for a moment illuminating him beyond the appearance of a common short-life. But once that eyeblink passed, he removed his helmet and was left plainly human – a square jaw too chiseled for his fine moustache and dull brown eyes that had seen too much to be tender. He took one look at Sesshomaru and arched a dubious brow.

"Commander Santiago de Cordoba, I present to you Lord Sesshomaru, the ruling nobleman of these domains." Yajiro hoped his introduction was decent. That wretched two-tailed cat just slipped between his feet on the way out and now the so-called daiyokai was truly adopting a fiery amber gaze.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Santiago said slowly, testing his command of the indigenous language. "What is the purpose of this?" He gestured between them.

"Your men have docked for the purpose of trade and other business," Sesshomaru began.

Santiago reached under his armor, retrieving a yellowed list. He studied it for a second before answering, "Yes, I am here on business that is official."

Sesshomaru's lips curled, but not without mirth. This Santiago was truly making an effort. "Then you will take the time to redress these matters." It was not a question.

Again the list. "I am of limited time."

"Very well." The daiyokai nodded graciously so the words were not lost. "I would like your people to avoid the Lands of Musashi at all costs. No goods. No weapons. No barter. No men." Sesshomaru listed each slowly and with an extended claw, his eyes trained on the commander's face.

Santiago mulled the thought over in his mind. His personal interpreter edged closer until dismissed with a careless wave. Finally, Santiago spoke. "Why?"

_Why?_

His features betraying nothing, Sesshomaru's claws convulsed at his sides just thinking about the hundreds of reasons to answer this _why_. Every terror, each humiliation, all that served to usurp his kind's very culture and livelihood flashed back in the recent memories of his latest ordeal. It was not an easy _why_ to answer.

Then, the Western Lord wondered if his schooled expression had slipped. Did his eyes not appear as cool and impassive as before? But, perhaps a flicker of intensity worked to his favor. Whatever the sight, it was the inane question that Santiago now dismissed.

His gaze shifting from Sesshomaru to the ground, the Portuguese commander offered in a gruff, if not sincere, voice, "My apologies." He straightened suddenly as if caught off guard. "Technically, the importance of this region is little. We had hoped instead to" – Santiago barked an order and his interpreter picked up the rest of the hurried speech – "We had hoped instead to diffuse our but there is no point in an under-developed area. It serves us better to go around and set up port elsewhere. Is that satisfactory to you, young lord?"

"It is," Sesshomaru tasted his words, "acceptable."

Xavier stepped forward. "How soon may we put Lord Sesshomaru's mind at ease?"

"Xavier," Santiago chortled in Portuguese, "I swear I could live to be a hundred and never understand how your mind works. Does it matter? We're giving the poor devil what he wants. God knows you can't close off a whole country!"

Eyeing the daiyokai beside him, Xavier sincerely believed that if anyone possessed such smoldering ferocity in his gaze, he would be able to isolate a nation of islands in a heartbeat.

"What say you we strike a deal, Lord Sesshomaru?" Santiago mumbled to himself more than anyone and motioned for his translator.

The dog-demon tilted his head at the sound of his name. "Speak."

"I can clear out every officer and mariner by tomorrow afternoon…and maybe a few merchants, I would like to keep their business close, but you are responsible for everyone else and everything else that is left behind. Reasonable?"

Sesshomaru turned to Yajiro and gestured toward Xavier. "Would it not be most unforgivable in your religion to desert your own to the ruthless habits of heathens?"

When the words were passed from Yajiro's mouth to Santiago's ears the commander seemed to pale slightly. Squaring his shoulders, he huffed indignantly.

Sesshomaru smiled inwardly. These humans, like all mortals, had their own array of beliefs to which they were just as easily prey. "See to it that you do not know of one left in my lands."

Santiago de Cordoba frowned, but he did not take long to say, "Done." Then he extended his hand.

Having seen the strange practice before, the daiyokai clasped Santiago's hand, matching the strong, curling grip. And they shook to seal the bargain.


	25. Going in Circles

**Going in Circles**

"Where'd he go?"

Kohaku tightened his topknot thoughtfully as he walked out of Rin and Akika's sleeping quarters. "It almost seems Lord Sesshomaru has disappeared."

"He's outside." Inuyasha carelessly folded his arms behind his head and flopped back on the floor's planks. "Him and the flea bag."

"You mean Koga?" Kagome corrected.

"Keh." The hanyo shut his eyes. "Leave 'em."

Kohaku spared a glance out the circular window and, seeing the relaxed positions of both yokai, he knew better than to interrupt.

---

As he had so many times before, Sesshomaru leaned against the veranda's wooden railing. Chin propped on palm and legs crossed at the ankles, he seemed to stare out at absolutely nothing beyond the surrounding trees and brush. Seated on the deck below the daiyokai, Koga knew he was being given a thorough once-over.

Sesshomaru eyed the two wolves that flanked the other demon.

"They are your clansmen," he observed quietly.

"Yeah? What of it?" Koga scratched the wolf with the black forelock vigorously behind the ears.

"They look like…natural wolves," the daiyokai added by way of explanation. He looked back at the chieftain to read his expression. Sesshomaru never expected to find resignation. "Do you have a theory for this?" he finally asked.

"Eh." Koga shrugged. "I got an idea." The friendly scratches moving to its chest, the wolf rolled on its back, exposing belly. Trying to get in on the action, its companion nuzzled Koga's hand. Both animals' tongues lolled contentedly, incapable of comprehending the serious discussion around them. Suddenly, Koga's lips drew back in a feral snarl and the wolves backed away, tails tucked submissively between their legs.

"I figure it's like this," he continued, voice still edged. "The damage is already done. I'd be better off drawing pictures in water than expecting these clowns t'member who they are…_were_."

Koga turned away toward his wolves for a second and Sesshomaru felt the pack leader, for a change, wasn't glaring at them. Another question cropped up in the dog-demon's mind, until Koga answered it with his own thought.

"I'd say the only reason I got by was 'cause I had purpose. That alone was enough to keep some identity of myself." Sky-blue eyes locked with gold-amber. "You understand that, don'tcha, Sesshomaru?"

Again the daiyokai averted his gaze. He straightened and drew himself to his full height. "I have always directed myself with purpose."

Koga cracked what Sesshomaru was beginning to recognize as an irritating smirk. The wolf-demon held up his hands. "Just sayin'."

Abruptly, Koga stood. "Ginta! Hakkaku!" he barked. The wolves bounded over, glad at the call of forgiveness. Koga gave Sesshomaru a droll look. "At least I can still name them."

"You are invited to stay."

Koga flippantly waved his hand in the air. "Nah, too crowded here."

Now Sesshoamru looked at him squarely. "I advise it."

Koga stepped up to the challenge. "I'm a big, bad wolf, I can take a' myself. As f'r any human idiots..." Koga looked at the wolves. "What else have we got to lose?"

Sesshomaru half wondered where his obnoxious little brother was now these appropos moments. But who was he to control Koga's freedom? The daiyokai had offered protection and he would not beg.

"Koga."

The wolf-demon planted one hand on the veranda's wooden railing and vaulted over toward the trees. His kin slinking behind. "Yeah?"

"Mind your pack…and yourself."

Koga lifted chin haughtily. "And you yours, friend."

Sesshomaru turned, declining to watch Koga leave and witness his own pack shrinking.


	26. Freedom

**Freedom**

Sitting idle was not something Sesshomaru did well. But if stalking around the household's perimeter only served to agitate the other villagers, the daiyokai knew he would be damned in more ways than one.

"I can't wait for sunrise," Inuyasha mumbled, stepping outside. But minding his distance at the sudden rise in yoki didn't stop him from quipping, "Then you can get that knot out of your fur, Sesshomaru."

Amber eyes sharply narrowed.

"Well, damn it all, Sesshomaru. You're getting your way aren't you? I don't think they can serve an army on silver platter!"

The daiyokai absentmindedly tapped a claw to his chin as if he honestly were considering the situation.

"Give 'em a break, they probably got lost and then found what they thought was a good setup. Wasn't like they were out to kill anyone 'til _you_ got involved."

Sesshomaru's open palm slammed into the wall, inches from Inuyasha's face. The half-demon bit his lip; he hadn't seen that look in his brother's eyes in a while. That same glare when he'd first known another so-called blood relative…one who burned with only the desire to kill.

But Sesshomaru's voice betrayed nothing with its smooth even tones. "Inuyasha, you don't believe that our world has already been tainted?"

"People are gonna believe what they want. Nothin' you, me, or anyone else can do about that." Inuyasha barked a bitter laugh, shoving Tetsusaiga's hilt against heavy black armor. "You think someone is just gonna close off the trading gates of the country one of these days? Ain't possible."

Sesshomaru arched a skeptical brow, but let up. "Little brother…you of all people should be the least apathetic to these circumstances."

Inuyasha tried to casually wipe the sweat from his brow. Too close a call. "And why's that?"

"You know what it means" – Sesshomaru's mouth twisted oddly – "to protect."

The half-demon's forehead scrunched in thought. "You act like that bothers you."

In a single spring, Sesshomaru was on the roof, shingles barely shifting beneath as he landed. Posture erect and legs folded, he sat back to think, ponder, and escape. Like an old friend, the wind combed through his mane with long, easy breezes. Sesshomaru closed his eyes and inhaled.

_If yokai are free and we live for ourselves, then why be fettered to a few humans? _

He had plans, plans that had been postponed for years now as Sesshomaru found himself swept up in the current of a new life. Did he mind it? It would only be a short diversion, after all.

_Freedom, I've been told, is doing as you please…doing what one enjoys._

And there had always been time for that. True, he was still quite young for a yokai, like an unending scroll eternity stretched before him, blank and waiting for his mark. Now it seemed that space was to be cut unexpectedly short. Ironically enough, by a few humans.

Life hadn't felt this uncertain in centuries. It was like trying to fill his father's place all over again – not knowing if he was good enough, strong enough, if he would have to rely on others like a cripple. It would be another day-to-day existence. It would be tedious, he would be meticulous. And _they_ would be safe. He found it pleased him.

_And it is free to me._

The wind kicked up and Sesshomaru blinked against it. As his vision cleared, he didn't move from his post. Quickly, he sniffed again. There was the scent of yokai on the wind – yokai blood.

"Idiot!" Sesshomaru was soaring over the trees before his sibling dashed into the clearing. The daiyokai could hear Kagome's panicked voice fading. Inuyasha's call still ringing in his ears.

"It's Koga!"

_Not just him,_ Sesshomaru's nose corrected. There was too much blood for that.

If those liars had recanted their promise, safe passage was no longer his to guarantee. This affront to his trust assured it. Redemption and destruction were strapped at his side and Sesshomaru wasn't going to hesitate dispensing either.


	27. Sordid Priorities

**Sordid Priorities**

Inuyasha arrived just a second behind his brother and two after the killers' departure. In the space of a sharply inhaled breath he took in the scene.

_I'm so glad Kagome isn't here._

In his extended lifetime, Inuyasha had seen a wide, gruesome array of carnage, but – he swallowed the scorching bile that crept up his throat – he knew this particular scene would haunt him for years.

A furred sprawl of bloody limbs and torso were all that remained of two wolves and his cocky, pestering and dear rival. The head that used to trade insults with him was gone – gleaming vertebrae protruding from flesh.

Whaddya know, he had a spine, Inuyasha's mind quipped as he tried not to believe what he saw. As much as his nose roiled to take another sniff, the half-demon scented that the killing had happened just a handful of minutes ago.

_And already the bodies are growing cold._

"Sesshomaru!" He spun around just in time to see a puff of fur disappear between the trees. "You have to get back Koga's head! D'ya hear me?!"

Sesshomaru did. But he wanted to kill the rider at the forefront first. The noxious stench of that same human who marched on his home with malicious intent just a day ago. The one who dared to deny his very existence. Sesshomaru burned to take that head more than anyone else's.

_These are the only beasts that kill without purpose. _

"Don't waste time!" A blur of red and silver blocked Sesshomaru's vision and he had to pause a second. Inuyasha's eyes locked on his. "Kill his ass later. We need your sword _now_."

"Out of my way," the inu-yokai growled, and his light whip seared the air.

It wasn't until he heard the strangled cry that Inuyasha realized he hadn't needed to duck. Behind him a human on horseback screamed at his freshly severed wrist. His steed bolting, the lucky mortal rode away with a new tale to tell. He was as good as any scroll-bearing messenger.

Inuyasha grimaced at the separated hand that still clutched a heavy brown sack, damp and weighted at the bottom.

"Retrieve the bag," Sesshomaru ordered and whirled around back to the site where the bodies lay.

--

The actions were surreal for Inuyasha. He did not want to be the one holding Koga's head in place with the decapitated body right beside him. He could practically feel the sticky blood drying between the crevices of his palms and fingers.

"Hurry up already!" he snapped over his shoulder. In Inuyasha's eyes, Sesshomaru seemed to take his sweet-assed time drawing the Tenseiga. And did he have to just _stare_ like that for so damn long?

Sesshomaru's focus was perfect and Tenseiga didn't waver. _There they are. _

A single sweep of the Heaven Fang cleared the mob of pallbearers that hovered over Koga and the two still wolves. Two sets of amber eyes widened as the revival took an unexpected twist on Koga's packmates. Their forms shimmered in a blinding silver light before stretching and reforming to the shapes Inuyasha recognized from his regular encounters with them. The one with the mohawk opened his eyes first, then crawled blubbering into the arms of his companions. For once, Koga didn't shove them away.

"Huh, didn't know you could bring 'em all back at once," Inuyasha marveled with folded arms.

The blade slid into its sheath with a satisfied clack. "Tenseiga's power is great."

"I said _you_, not the sword."

Sesshomaru's gaze narrowed at Inuyasha, but he turned to quickly sharply address Koga. "Come."

"What? You mean back to _your_ stomping grounds?" The young wolf chieftain was incredulous.

Sesshomaru kept walking, obviously expecting the others to follow.

"We aren't a pack of domestics," Koga growled. "The Wolf Demon Tribe goes where we please."

"Freedom is a small price to pay for safety," the daiyokai's voice carried over the increasing distance.

Fangs bared, Koga opened his mouth to argue and fell short…right at Inuyasha's feet.

"The Boss'll forgive us later." Ginta knelt and hoisted one of Koga's arms over his shoulder while Hakkaku took the other.

"We're crashing at your den tonight."

As usual the two lesser wolves trailed a ways, but Inuyasha didn't mind. He had a couple of questions himself. "Hey, Sesshomaru?" The hanyo didn't wait for his brother's silent permission and bulldozed ahead. "Why didn't you avenge yourself upon that asshole when you had the chance? I mean, it ain't like you owed Koga any favors."

Sesshomaru didn't slow his pace. "You believe I acted on compassion?"

Inuyasha's nose scrunched up. "Well…no, not really."

"You are correct."

That just confused the crap out of me. Inuyasha glowered. Then felt a cold sweat bead at the nape of his neck as a corner's of Sesshomaru's mouth curled upward. For the rest of walk back, Inuyasha didn't ask any more questions. He was well aware of the daiyokai's warped priorities and it made him shiver in the late afternoon sun.

_He wants to savor that death._

_---_

_A/N: Apologies that this chapter update was a little late, but midterms are coming up so what can you do? (Wish I could slice some heads.) However, this being the last week before Hallloween, I do have a seasonal treat coming up. Starting tonight, the new story will be posted regularly after 7 PM (Pacific Time). Exams or not, this has always been my favorite time of year. _


	28. Ghost Stories

_A/N: I wanted to finish this chapter earlier...but life happens. Enjoy!_

_--_

**Ghost Stories**

The moon was fat and swollen in the sky, nearly full, but its silver light didn't quite breach the healthy blaze around which a platoon of mixed men – foreign and farm-born – clamored together. The fourth division of last season's Portuguese vessels regrouped for their final night, not too far from Commander Santiago de Cordoba's main base, but distanced enough to swill their own questionably acquired goods. And exchange stories worse than any blood money.

"Caught him by surprise and, ah, what an expression contorts the face in shock. It was a fine head, too!" Antonio drank deeply from a canteen before continuing, "He had enough dark hair to make wigs for all of you!"

"Well, why don't you show us this trophy head, capt'n?" drawled one of the Portuguese mercenaries, already three sheets to the wind.

"'Fraid I can't." Antonio dramatically shook his head and sighed, a ruddy blush flaring in his cheeks and nose. "Right when we're to 'turn home, I've lost a souvenir for my mantelpiece…because of some halfwit's incompetence!"

Across the campfire, a young man flinched as if he'd been burned by the very flames before him. He didn't understand the _namban's_ words, but then again no one needed to decipher a beast's snarls when they meant a death threat. His lacquered bamboo armor removed some time ago to tend to his wound and lower the fever. The young man cradled his freshly swathed wrist closer, wincing as pain jolted him again. He heard a soft curse and the footsoldier beside him stood.

"Captain Antonio, we told why he lost that bag." The soldier kept a hand on his hilt.

"You're telling me" – Antonio reached for his rifle – "that you simpletons aren't trained to fend off one wild animal?"

"It wasn't an animal!" A sea of hands reached to grab their comrade's shoulders. They didn't need another man out of commission tonight. The footsoldier allowed the weight to drag him down, but his glare for Antonio never lost an ounce.

"You're an idiot." The captain set his firearm aside. Why waste ammunition? "The fool could have stuck his hand in a bear's mouth for all I know."

Murmurs hummed softly in both languages with the new subject and the proof right before them. No savage creature mauled a wrist that clean and not even a sword's cut was that concise. The men shuddered because neither option would have wound acid scars up the arm, stripping skin clean away.

"But what on earth could have done this to him?" one fellow thought aloud.

The first man to speak raised his voice to be heard over the bubbling concern. "I'll tell you what did—"

Antonio's ears perked at that tone of voice. "Don't you dare say –"

"_Yokai_."

But instead of the uproar that word had so often caused in the camps, it whipped through the area, robbing everyone's voice from comment or dissent. An outsider had spoken and his may as well have been the vocals of the creature he named.

All eyes turned to see a strange elder hobbling closer to the fire. He did not ask to join, simply wedging himself between two younger, obliging natives. Without another word, the old man fed the fire another twig and extended his hands to the crackling warmth.

"Say, geezer, what do you think you're doing here?"

The old man made no reply. Those surrounding him maintained their stunned silence.

Antonio snorted. Then shoved the double-barreled muzzle in the visitor's face.

"Elder," implored the man with the swaddled wrist. "Please go in peace. There is nothing of value you will find here."

The old man looked away, directly into Antonio's eyes. The captain heard him hiss something soft and icy.

"Do you put a curse on me?" Antonio speculated.

"He says, 'You had better watch yourself, non-believer,'" offered one man, somewhat safely across the campfire.

The Portuguese captain laughed – until something wry and boney wrapped around his wrist. He gasped at the surprising strength in that grip. The old man's features belied his vigor. Caught in the same spell of wonder that had held his men, Antonio stilled as long fingernails grazed over his palm. He shook free, but – he realized with a pounding heart – only because the old man permitted.

"What the devil are—?"

The visitor spoke again and Antonio's translator continued. "He wishes to rest his bones and will gift you with a story if you allow him the night.

Antonio thought a minute, his alcohol-muddled brain trying to conjure a useful memory and his actions then. He had encountered gypsies before; they had a habit of wounding up on his bayonet. But, more often than not, when he had the time he let them share one last story of their convoluted cultured. It was never something he took seriously, but it made his job more interesting.

_Why not? _

Antonio resumed his place on a sizeable tree stump. His elbow propped on one knee and his eyes shining from drink, Antonio was the picture of irreverence. Taking another swig from his canteen, he decided he needed a night's entertainment. "Go on, old man."

The elder smiled and some say that's when Antonio was initially hexed. Others swear by their family names that the curse wasn't set until the following occurred.

Smirking, the visitor said, "See what you've brazenly ignored." He added in a low whisper, "Because it has found its way to you."

Weathered hands flung a fistful of granules into the campfire. The flames blazed blue and green, tendrils of turquoise smoke curled skyward. Another sprinkle of powder and the smoke billowed into a thunderhead. Then the cloud took form, a ghastly green glow molding it from the inside out. First a snout, lined inside with a detailed show of serrated teeth. The limbs came next; muscular like a man's, but the back was all wrong as it arched up like a cat's. Finally, a pair of large, hound ears fanned out on the head and a tail lashed out at the end of the figure's body. If Antonio tilted his head and squinted, it could have been a dog.

Still occupying the space above the campfire and under the stars, the beast spun toward the men, snapping and snarling as if the leash that kept it from lunging was wearing thinner by the second.

Antonio's hands clenched the tree stump's bark at his side. This was a very good…trick.

Then, it seemed no sooner had he thought the word that the smoky demon whirled on him. Claws extended, eyes like burning coals, and jaws wide open.

Instinctively, Antonio waved his hand to defend himself…and felt his fingers slip through air. He batted through the wispy illusion once more, scattering the yokai figure. "Am I a child to be frightened into believing this?" he said, his voice still huskier than he liked.

The old man rose, leaning heavily on his gnarled walking stick. Head turned up to meet the captain's insolent eyes, he rasped, "'Tis a warning to be heeded." He made to leave, only adding, "I would not venture into those woods tonight if I were you."

"Is that so?" Antonio motioned for his gun, watching the stooped retreating back.

Suddenly, a flurry of leaves clouded his vision and the old stranger had disappeared entirely. Gone in the next backwash of wind.

--

When he was far enough away that Antonio's campfire looked like a firefly in the forest, Shippo stretched out of his elderly guise, resuming his original form – a boy on fox legs who couldn't have passed for more than ten.

He walked back to the village, trying not to think too hard about what else might be lurking behind the next tree. His part was done.

_And Sesshomaru promised he wouldn't kill. _

Kagome had stepped in on the conversation and settled the point if Shippo's aid were to be enlisted. But his short tail bristled all the same. If Sesshomaru wouldn't kill, then what was that dog-demon going to do to them? Fox feet quickened to a trot. Did it matter? That one human meant calamity if his doubt spread like a plague.

_But does he still pose a threat?_

For all his practice, Shippo wondered what power _doubt_ might have inflected upon him. It seemed the human mind was more gullible under mind-alteration; after all, that captain had just bought his kitsune illusion hook, line, and sinker.

_Now let's see what he thinks of the real deal. _


	29. Yokai

_A/N: For every patient reader who's waited for this chapter...._

_--_

**Yokai**

In the frigid night air, Antonio sneezed, but didn't bother to wipe the snot from his upper lip. It was in wee hours of the morning, the darkest period of the long night, and there wasn't a man in the fourth squadron who wasn't stone drunk.

Finally feeling the lull of his alcohol, the inebriated captain staggered for his personal blankets. Then paused.

"I don't suppose any of you halfwits need this second fire, eh?" Towering over the flickering embers, he was already undoing his belt.

"Captain," protested one soldier, growling the title like a curse, "we agreed that any excretions would be attended to an arrow's flight away."

Antonio grumbled, a "t'hell with the rules" danced on the tip of his tongue, but somehow the words seemed too difficult to form and the faster he pissed the faster he could get to sleep. And on that eloquent thought, Antonio lumbered off into the woods.

--

Willfully neglecting to give his belt a second securing tug, Antonio looked around to find the route back to camp. He hadn't wandered far and only needed to retrace his steps. Or so the captain thought.

In the dark one tree boasted the same silhouette as the last, but just a short ways he spied an amber light's glint. Antonio tottered after it like a small child chasing a firefly home. Suddenly, his beckon was snuffed out, gone in the next wind. Antonio felt his gut plummet. If that wasn't his camp, where was he? How had he lost his way? Escorted by some will-o'-the-wisp?

"_Welcome_."

If he had been shocked by lighting, Antonio couldn't have jumped higher. A disembodied voice surrounded him from all sides. He was most clearly outside, the wind whipping past, but the voice held resonance lent only by an enclosure…and it must have been close.

"Huh," the voice scoffed. "But why should I waste civility on you? Welcomes are meant for guests. You are an intruder."

Trying to sift out a clear thought in his foggy brain, Antonio recognized the lilt of the voice. It was speaking relatively good Portuguese, yes, but it had the natives' undeniable accent as it tripped over a syllable or two. Antonio reached for the saber at his side, and the hilt slipped uselessly through his numbed fingers. He cursed. Should have brought the rifle; why hadn't he been thinking?

Suddenly, as if reading his very thoughts, the air was punctuated with a mocking chuckle. "A weapon? That's only good for a mortal. What am I to you?"

Only good for a mortal? What the hell did that mean? Then, superimposed over the shrubbery before him, Antonio saw the storyteller's ghostly demon from earlier that night. He shook himself, picking up the sword in a firm grip. "You're…you're one of those idiots from the camp playing a foul trick! That's all!" Antonio bellowed, gathering his courage. "You're an imbecile if you think you'll get away with this alive!"

"And you are a fool."

Immediately following the voice, a warm wind washed over charged with a current for which there are no words in any human tongue. Antonio heard something that sounded like a snared rabbit whimpering and it took several seconds to realize it was no one but himself. He cowered in the wake of terrible sensation that shocked every nerve in his body and frayed it to the limit of hysteria. The need to run thudded in his ears – so visceral, so basic, a natural reaction in the audience of any predator.

_Predator._

Fear raced up Antonio's spine, hot on the heels of the grim conclusion that he was, by every definition, prey. Antonio was prey for…"What the hell are you?"

"There is another word for my kind, one which has most recently entered your lexicon: yoh—"

"Stop!" Antonio hastily interjected. "There is no such thing!" The warm breeze brushed past his cheek, like fur on bare skin – unsolicited and unnerving. Antonio spun around, his grip trembling as he tried to locate the speaker. He panted now. His eyes darted. In front a shadow slipped by, but behind the bushes rustled. Maybe there were two? Three? A pack? At least two, no one could be that fast.

"No such thing?" the voice echoed, edged with sadistic mirth. "And would you believe your eyes?"

"N-n…Nnnn…" Antonio couldn't get his tongue to work. He went slack-jawed entirely at the creature that lurched out of the thicket before him. A growl trickled out of the beast's chest followed by a snarl that ripped through the air. Its upper torso, stripped to the waist, resembled a man's, but sliver fur flowed over one shoulder. Like some hellish canine, the monster stood on backward bent legs, taller than either dog or man as some feral hybrid of the two. In the spotlight of a moonbeam, Antonio could see how this creature's mouth was outlined in dark, ragged stripes, its fangs scraped past its chin.

The rabbit squeals chorused louder as one clawed hand extended for the captain's throat.

"How does it feel, Antonio, to be pushed to the brink of existence?" Blood-red eyes peered out from under a crescent moon marking. "Do you feel alive…or wish you were dead?"

The scarlet eyes flickered for a moment and the entire face changed for a moment. Antonio gasped and no amount of drink could have stopped the recognition from clicking like a reset barrel. That young man, that pest who had so bothered him like a rock in his boot…The handsome face stretched back to its former countenance, chuckling. It was him! He was the beast, the demon, the yokai – there was no other word for it. But that human appearance from just days ago…a façade? How many more walked this wretched land in human guise?

The eyes danced as recognition sparked Antonio's glassy eyes.

"Or are you so blind, Antonio?"

Then, abruptly, Antonio laughed. The sight he caught over the demon's shoulder left him delighted, relieved, joyous and delirious all at once that his men were coming for him.

"Get him! Shoot him!" he commanded in the face of a handful of shiftless men.

They exchanged a few shrugging looks. Finally, one slumped forward. "Uh, shoot at what, capt'n?"

The claws around Antonio's collar tightened. "I realized it's not so bad being ignored."

"H-how…?" he gasped.

"I can control my audience. I can occupy a space of your mind and control you. Right now, because I will it, you, contemptible guest and honored intruder, are the center of attention."

And all eyes were on Antonio, especially that one bloody, crimson pair that would never fade.


	30. Feudal Fairytale

_A/N: And, at long last, we finish in the month we started..._

**Feudal Fairytale**

Dusk settled early on the western coast as only glimmer of scarlet sunshine remained to dance upon the waves. Like a small colony of ants, clusters of men – sailors, merchants, mercenaries of every creed and occupation – loaded the last of their little bobbing boats before shoving off to the main ship.

Catching a barrel of gunpowder in his arms, a skinny, young mariner hollered if that was it for his boat.

"Nah, got ourselves one more!" rang the reply. "Got ourselves a passenger!"

The first sailor took one look at the blubbering mess at his feet. "Can't we leave him?"

His comrade shrugged, shoving the sad excuse for a man into the little boat. "Cordoba's orders: no one a' us gets left behind." He indifferently scratched the back of his neck. "Still…creeps the hell outta me. The so-called captain just stares off an' keeps repeating that one strange word. Wonder what them villagers coulda done t'im?"

"The people here are not the cause."

At the light, gentle voice, both sailors looked up. "Father Xavier."

Shuffling his robes, Xavier inclined his head by way of greeting. Then knelt before Antonio. The captain had hushed some, but he still whispered his one-word mantra.

"I cannot say you are guiltless." Sun-tanned hands ritualistically crossed their subject. "May there be mercy, even for the merciless."

Antonio didn't hear the blessing. He couldn't over the pounding two syllables in his mind.

Just behind his master, Yajiro swallowed dryly. _So this is what a demon can do when it does not kill._

Yajiro surveyed the surrounding expressions; the sailor's bemusement, Master Xavier's pity, and Antonio's dread. Suddenly, Xavier's attendant started as a little jolt raced up his own spine. It was a feeling he had hoped to be rid of since his callow boyhood.

He searched for the source and, there on a rocky ledge overlooking the beach, loomed the definition of Antonio's drivel. The massive, white dog-beast that peered back, ruby eyes glinting, was no bigger than Yajiro's thumb if he raised a hand and squinted with one eye shut. But the fact that the yokai was visible from so far away meant it was large enough to consume each ship in single snap. Yoki, the lightning-hot energy, radiated powerfully enough to be felt down to the shore.

Yajiro gaped at his impassive teacher. Though he didn't miss the way Xavier slipped his hands into his sleeves, rubbing down the raised hairs on his arms. But if there was any sign of disturbance beyond that Yajiro never saw it.

Xavier turned away from Antonio and to one of the empty rowboats. "Coming, good Yajiro?"

"Yes, master." He took one last look at the hilltop, willing the figure to fade. It didn't. "Please don't leave without me."

And, as if indulging in some private joke, the monk laughed.

--

_So here I am once more._

Sesshomaru had always been aware of his own strength, keenly so since last decade's change in company. But he had been aware only to check his power. Not too fast, never too forceful…just within the realm of his own tolerance.

Back in his truest shape, Sesshomaru uncoiled his power and relished the unbound strength that rippled through every canine muscle and charged him from tip of nose to tail.

At last they were leaving. But Sesshomaru wasn't naïve enough to believe that these were the only people of the sort on the islands. Scattered here and there as once the Shikon shards were, namban still wandered and traded off their goods, their languages, their customs, their beliefs.

_Just no longer in _my _domain._

Sesshomaru snorted. Perhaps within the next century, if the warring times produced a true ruler, a human lord with half a brain would sense enough to drive the foreign devils out of this pure land and settle matters as humans did with blood and ink rather than the teeth of a…The great white tail stilled.

_Rather than a fairytale._

Giant claws dug into the earth. The trenches they left were real enough. There was no trace of fantasy to the daiyokai's memory either: death, loss, carnage, rivalry, smiles, fear, warmth and new-found family. All just as valid as the power swelling in the daiyokai's chest. He couldn't determine the future, but he could always protect the present.

_This Sesshomaru does not depend upon a feeble human mind to exist._

He growled softly in the direction of the departed ships at humans who would never hear him. A token's resistance to the pestering thought at base of his skull.

_So long as one person believed there would always be at least one yokai left in this world._

The dog-demon stared out to the ocean long after ships had disappeared beyond the horizon. Finally, like so many yokai before and hundreds to come, Sesshomaru turned tail and vanished into the night.

--

_A/N: So there we are._

_I'm not sure what I want to say about _Xenophobia _that hasn't already been written. I did my best to integrate little pieces of history into the story. Francis Xavier, for instance, actually did travel to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century. He lived there for about three years, but was never terribly good with the language (which made writing dialogue both fun and a pain at times). Xavier also did take on an apprentice named Yajiro, allegedly rescued by the clergyman after a rough life as a small-time thief._

_And, of course, the "human lord" alluded to in the end is none other than Tokugawa Ieyasu who gated off Japan to the rest of the western world (or until Matthew C. Perry would stumble upon it again in 1851 – leave it to an American, heh)._

_I suppose I could say that I wanted to write this story for months before "publication." The wonder of what happens to yokai and the introduction of people from across the globe was too much to resist. I never found time 'til I finally said to heck with it and just wrote the first chapter. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad one since it did make the writing process take a little longer, but then I'm struck by the fact that it may to have been written at all at that rate._

_Thank you all who have read this story over the year's duration or happened across it. Your reviews, visits and encouragement have kept this story and its characters going._


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